


What Lies Beyond

by fallingsnow6136



Category: Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Crushes, Epic Bromance, Epic Friendship, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Heavy Angst, M/M, Multi, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-01-24 16:44:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingsnow6136/pseuds/fallingsnow6136
Summary: The journey from childhood to adolescence is a tough one. With becoming an adult, one is faced with many tasks and responsibilities that are part of growing up. Having your friends close can lessen the burden but things are not always what they appear to be. When closed doors are finally opened, can the bonds of the Applidrivers surpass what lies beyond? This is a story of love. This is a story of friendship. Come and join the Applidrivers as they embark on this journey into adulthood, where new struggles and joys await them.Look forward to the next update on the 21/11/2019 AEST as I have an update schedule of 2 weeks to give everyone a good benchmark to read it.
Relationships: Asuka Torajirou/Katsura Hajime, Katsura Rei/Shinkai Haru
Comments: 30
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there everyone! Before I go into details about this particular story, I just want to reassure all of you that ‘Crimson Dusk’ is not dead, it is on the backlog though until I sort myself out with ideas due to some things happening, which I won’t describe here but anyway! This story, for now, is replacing it and I hope you enjoy it as I try to send some very strong messages through. Also, I do not condone Elena’s actions in this chapter, nor do I approve of them, I think pettiness and jealousy are bad things, even when not said with homophobic intentions so just a small disclaimer, that I am trying to discourage people from adopting Elena’s behaviour, not encouraging it. Thank you so much to ‘coolgamer’ on Fanfiction.net for betareading this first chapter for me. I hope all of you enjoy this story.

**1\. We Always Will Be**

Ten years had gone by since the defeat of Leviathan, nine since Yuujin had come home to them, but despite the fact that so much time had passed, it didn’t feel like that to Astra. Okay, yeah, they were all adults now as weird as it was to think about and they had all gotten mature – he made a face at the word as he prepared for his next Apptube video – but in the end of all that, they were still closer than ever. No matter how busy he got with filming a new video or a new tea ceremony he had planned, he always had time for his friends.

“I totally feel your new video, Astra!” Musimon said doing his usual pose and Astra grinned at his Buddy in CHIP form, taking his hat off and putting it on the desk beside him, making a mental note to take it with him when he left the house.

“I feel it too!” Astra said, voice getting louder as he spoke, the excitement bubbling in his tone. That was another thing that never changed. No matter how old he got, his friendship with Musimon would always be young at heart and as long as he had his Buddy by his side, everything would turn out great – he could totally feel it.

“Are the others coming to your first Apptube Tea Ceremony Live Launch?” Musimon asked him curiously.

Astra nodded, eyes shining. “Of course! I told them about this like weeks in advance cause you know they’ve gotta be there, they’re my family after all.” He said this casually but the spark in his eyes told another story. When he had decided to balance being an Apptuber and being the successor of the Asuka Teahouse, he had felt an intense pressure on the back of his neck. Despite being the type to not let things such as pressure get to him, it was pretty freaky thinking about all those responsibilities, especially right before he had done his first ever tea ceremony.

_“Don’t worry,” Haru had said, expression warm with a bright and encouraging smile on his face; the one that made him always feel that he could feel his way through everything and _ _somehow things would be alright in the end. “If anyone can do it, it’s Astra-kun.” _

** ** _Eri wrapped an arm around Astra’s shoulders, giving it a squeeze and uses her other to form a fist, punching the air. “You better put your all into this ok, Tora? Or I’ll give you an explosive punch!” _

_Astra rolled his eyes at her, knowing it was just her way of encouraging him in her own little way and it did make him feel a little better to know she believed in him and he grinned, “I totally feel that and of course I’ll give my all!” He pretended to sound offended._

_“It wouldn’t be Astra if he didn’t_ _, neh Haru?” Yuujin said, a fondness in his voice as he spoke._

_“More like being a hard-headed idiot,” Rei said rolling his eyes._

_“Oniichan!” Hajime scolded his brother lightly before smiling at Astra as well. “Oniichan believes in you and him calling you hard-headed just means he believes in your passion to be able to succeed.” He giggled a bit as Rei scowled at him, turning his face away from the both of them._

_Astra grinned. “Yeah, Rei’s just too emo to cheer me on honestly, neh Hajime-kun?”_

_Ai smiled a bit. “I baked some cookies as good luck, but I know you don’t really need it. You’re going to make your first tea ceremony a success.”_

_Haru nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Just follow your heart, like you always do.”_

Following his heart seemed like the best way to do things and it always seemed to work out. However, other than his friends, there was one other person who always helped make his Apptube videos a success, someone he had met a few years after the defeat of Leviathan at one of the tea ceremonies. A man slightly older than him named Akuma Hagiwara. In his spare time, he was an inventor and tended to invent different gadgets and he had done the same thing for him. He would invent different gadgets that would make his Apptube videos ten times the quality they originally were as well as little tools that would help him advertise his material as well.

Combining the tea making ceremonies into Apptube videos was Astra’s own idea but he totally would not have felt it at all had it not been for Akuma’s amazing gadgets. The man was coming to meet him before the live launch to see if he could help out even more and Astra could feel the kindness in his gesture. He had not had the chance to really introduce Akuma to his own friends, which kind of sucked but the man liked to stay in the background and not get too involved in things if he could not help out in some way. After much convincing, he finally agreed to meet Astra’s friends at the Launch today and he was totally looking forward to that.

“Torajirou,” His father’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts of how awesome his friends were, and he looked up as his father entered the room.

“Yeah Dad, what is it?” Astra asked, immediately sobering up. Even though he had become more confident in being himself around his Dad, there was still a sense that he couldn’t goof off as much when he was in the room.

“Hagiwara-san is outside to pick you up,” His father said simply. “He says he doesn’t want you to be late and it’s always better to arrive a little bit earlier.”

Astra managed to keep himself from rolling his eyes. That was just like his friend. He was always way too prepared, more than he needed to be at times. But he just nodded to his Dad. “Yeah, I suppose it doesn’t really hurt.” Geez, even Rei wasn’t that paranoid and that said a lot given he was on edge about nearly everything. He got up, quickly put on his shoes and his hat. The rest of his clothes were fine, a casual bright yellow T-shirt and black pants. He placed his headphones around his neck, putting his music on pause for when he needed to play it.

“Are you coming to the launch, Dad?” Astra asked before he headed out to meet with Akuma.

Ryuutarou gave him a quiet smile. “Of course, Torajirou.” He didn’t say more than that but he didn’t need to because that was enough. He beamed at his father before running out the door, seeing Akuma’s car parked there. He opened the door, quickly getting in.

“A little early, aren’t you?” Astra said lightly. 

Akuma rolled his eyes at him. “You’ll thank me for it later.”

“Yeah probably, since you’re totally like my paranoid big brother,” Astra teased his friend, unable to help it.

“Oh is that what my role is reduced to now?” Akuma replied, a teasing smile crossing his face as well. “I just didn’t want you to be late, that’s all. Are your friends coming?”

“Of course,” Astra replied, not even having to think about that before answering. “I totally wouldn’t have been able to feel it if it weren’t for them.”

“They sound like pretty great people,” Akuma said, albeit shifted a little. “I hope your friends like me though.”

“Akuma, it’s kinda hard not to like you,” Astra said, scratching the back of his head. “I mean you’re as nice as Haru, dude, you’re always trying to be helpful, so I don’t get why they wouldn’t.”

Akuma smiled but nodded. “Well, I look forward to it then.”

* * *

Hajime knew he was taking way too long to decide the clothes he was going to wear but this was Astra’s first live launch and for some reason, he wanted to look nice for it. Astra was pretty cool and had really been looking forward to this for awhile and he wanted to be able to support his friend.

“Hajime, we should probably get going,” Rei called out. “We have a longer distance to drive to be there on time.”

“Alright,” Hajime called back. “I’ll be out in two minutes.” He finally decided to wear a white shirt and grey shorts since Astra did always say that he looked better in lighter colours so he decided to go with that, finally coming out of the room. “Sorry for taking so long, Oniichan.”

“No, it’s ok,” Rei replied before peering at him, making Hajime feel as if he were being observed through a microscopic lens for a moment. “Hajime.”

“Yeah?” Hajime said in response, heart thudding slightly. Had his brother figured something out? _Wait, has he figured what out? I’m not hiding anything anyway. I just want to support Astra-san that’s all, that’s the only reason I want to look nice. Because seeing that I dressed up for his special day will make him happy. Yeah, that’s the reason. That’s the only reason. _He wasn’t sure if he was trying to build up reasons to convince his brother or himself to be honest.

“You know you can tell me anything right?” Rei asked, looking at him and giving him a soft smile that Hajime had only seen his brother have when he was around him or Haru. “I mean, I know I’m not always the best at…” He trailed off, as if unsure of how to continue the sentence, not that Hajime let him, moving forward to hug his older brother.

“You’re the best, Oniichan,” Hajime said firmly, tightening his hug around his brother’s waist as the other returned the hug. “I’m okay though really. I just wanted to be supportive for Astra-san, that’s all. This is really important to him after all and I want to show him that we're here for him.” It wasn’t a lie, he just wasn’t sure if it was the complete truth, that’s all. But at this point, he wasn’t really sure what the complete truth was anyway. Feelings were confusing!

Rei flushed a bit at that but tousled Hajime’s hair causing him to roll his eyes in response. “Okay then, but if there’s anything, you can always come to me.”

Hajime smiled. “I know, Oniichan.”

* * *

Yuujin kicked the soccer ball in the air, easily striking down the goal. He was an adult now and in University but something about this sport always made him feel as if he were free from all his worries. The feeling of the wind blowing in his hair, the thrill of running along the field with his teammates and a sense of feeling like he had achieved something when they won the game through their team efforts. He attempted to finish the game earlier than usual, something which his teammate Takumi seemed to notice.

“Everything cool, Yuujin?” Takumi asked casually. “You seem to be in a rush today.”

“Yeah,” Yuujin agreed. “Actually, I have to pick Haru up and then we’re heading to my friend’s live Launch. It’s a really important day for him and we all wanted to be there to support him.”

“Dude, Yuujin how do you even manage to make the time to do all this shit with your degree and all?” Takumi said, sounding awed. “I mean, you’re in your last year of your Masters’ after all.”

Yuujin smiled. “It’s not that hard. I wouldn’t have even had the courage to pursue my dreams if it weren’t for my friends. I don’t mind if I have to face a few difficulties in order to be able to support my friends somehow.” The education in Japan was a little bit strange but due to him missing some time of his education at school, he had to enter the University through a pathway course. Because he had only missed at most a year and a half, he only had to do a short degree of two years before being able to get into a Masters of Clinical Psychology at a nearby University.

Takumi shrugged at that. “Still, I gotta admit it takes a lot of dedication, dude. Being an adult is hard enough.”

Yuujin rolled his eyes. He didn’t reply to that. He knew Takumi’s day started with what was best for him and ended with what time he needed to get up the next morning so it was pointless to reply to that. “Anyway, I have to go pick Haru up. I’ll catch you later ok?”

Takumi nodded. “Sure! Think of yourself once in awhile too okay?”

Yuujin chuckled. “No promises.” He headed to his car, driving over to Haru’s house. He couldn’t imagine just living his life just thinking of himself, not after everything Haru and the others had taught him. Being an adult was hard but the realisation that you weren’t like everybody else was somehow even harder. Studying something where he could help children and other people made him feel a bit like everyone else and even back then when he was only 14, he had always held a special spot for young children.

“Yuujin, are you ok, offu?” Offmon appeared in CHIP form whilst he was driving.

“Yeah,” Yuujin gave a smile to his Buddy. “I’m fine. Just thinking, that’s all. I don’t understand Takumi sometimes. I mean, I get wanting to take care of yourself, I mean I can’t help anyone if I don’t take care of myself first but only thinking of yourself and not anyone else…it doesn’t make sense why anyone would do something like that. I guess a part of me doesn’t understand that part of…well, normal people I guess.”

Offmon smiled. “It shows that being human doesn’t make him infallible though, neh offu? It’s what Haru and Ai-chan always tell you isn’t it Yuujin? That being human and having freewill doesn’t always mean people make the right choices.”

Yuujin blinked, not sure how to reply to his friend, however, he didn’t need to as they finally arrived at Haru’s house. He got out of the car, knocking on his best friend’s door and it wasn’t even a few seconds before the other opened it.

“Hey Yuujin,” Haru said smiling softly. “How was your soccer game?” He stepped aside, allowing Yuujin to come in.

“Yuujin’s here earlier than usual,” Gatchmon chimed in, popping up in CHIP-form.

“The game finished a bit early, offu,” Offmon told Gatchmon.

Yuujin smiled back, forgetting his earlier thoughts of Takumi when he saw his best friend. “It was really good. It’s nice to relax with a fun soccer game after all the stress of University. Are you ready to go?” It didn’t look like it given Haru was dressed in his usual casual T-shirt and black shorts but he thought he’d ask anyway since his best friend didn’t put a lot of care into how he dressed, unless he was going on a date with Rei or something.

Haru looked down at his clothes, rubbing the back of his head a little sheepishly. “I should probably change, shouldn’t I? I mean, this might be a little too casual and I wouldn’t want Astra-kun to feel that I don’t care about his special day.”

Yuujin laughed. “Well, if you want. I don’t think Astra will think that though. I mean he’d just be happy we’re all there to support him right?” He tried to sound confident. Astra was all about following your heart, right? So he wouldn’t want Haru to dress up all fancy if he wasn’t comfortable with it but he also knew his best friend was really considerate.

“Probably,” Haru agreed, going quiet for a few seconds. Yuujin peered at him. He usually understood the other really well and he could tell the other was bouncing ideas around in his head. Haru didn’t care normally too much about what people would say about his clothing style but he was a little too considerate for his own good sometimes.

“Haru?” Yuujin said, catching his best friend’s attention. “I think you should do what makes you the most comfortable.”

Haru nodded. “I think I’ll go change. Give me a few minutes.”

Yuujin smiled. “Take your time. I’ll just wait here.” He sat down on one of the sofas, both Gatchmon and Offmon joining him. He looked down at his own clothes from when he was playing and while they weren’t casual, a part of him wondered if he should change. He wasn’t in the mood to change right now and his clothes seemed appropriate enough right? Should he ask Haru about it when he came back? He wasn’t sure.

“Hey Gatchmon?” Yuujin asked his best friend’s Buddy.

Gatchmon looked up. “Yeah?”

“Would it be more appropriate if I changed into something not so sporty?” Yuujin asked, before mentally cringing at how that sentence came out. He had hoped for it to sound a little better than that and he felt his cheeks flush pink. It seemed no matter how much therapy he went through with Remedimon, words would still be hard. “Sorry, I just meant…” He and Haru had sleepovers often so if he needed a change of clothes, it wouldn’t be too hard to do.

Gatchmon blinked. “I mean, your clothes seem fine. You don’t produce sweat as quickly as other people do so it should be okay. It’s not like there’s a dress code or anything as long as you don’t show up in your PJs or something ‘cause that’d look weird, you know. We got time though, still, Yuujin so if you wanna like take a shower or something and freshen up after the game, we got time for that.”

Yuujin hadn’t expected Gatchmon to make fun of him but he still felt a bit awkward for his words and checked the time. “I might do that.” He did feel a bit tired after the game physically at least so taking a shower to freshen up might be good.

“We do still have time so please do freshen up, Yuujin,” If Haru’s voice was any louder, Yuujin might have jumped at it suddenly coming out of nowhere but since his friend was always so soft-spoken, it didn’t startle him too much as he turned to look at the other. Haru had changed into a casual red T-shirt and blue jeans, his goggles hanging around his neck as he stood there with a soft smile.

Yuujin smiled and nodded. “I’ll go do that. Then we’ll head out, ok? I’ll be quick.”

Haru shook his head. “Don’t rush. We have plenty of time since the place isn’t too far away from here.”

Yuujin gave one final nod to his best friend before heading into the shower, letting the cold water hitting him release some steam from the game. Yeah, this would definitely help him feel fresher for the Live Launch.

* * *

It had taken some time for Eri to break away from work but she had to somehow try to manage it, because going to Astra’s Live Launch was the most important thing, since he had told her weeks in advance.

“So can you two cover me?” Eri asked Elena and Alice, her two fellow Nine Gods who had been with her through her full journey of becoming one of the top most idols in all of Japan.

Alice smiled at her. “Of course, Eri-chan! You should be at your friend’s Live Launch. We’d be happy to cover for you wouldn’t we Elena-chan?” She turned to her other friend who hadn’t answered at all, her expression odd as she watched Eri curiously.

Eri gave Alice a grateful smile before turning to Elena, realising she hadn’t answered either of them. “Elena? Can you cover for me too? It’s just for a few hours.”

Elena snapped out of it. “Oh yeah, sure, of course, no problem.” She didn’t sound so certain about that. There was an uncertainty in her words which gave Eri a feeling she didn’t like. Elena had been acting a bit strange since Haru and Rei had come out about dating one another but why? She knew Elena had always found Rei to be attractive but she wasn’t actually jealous of Haru, was she?

“Is everything ok, Elena?” Eri asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend. “You’ve been acting a little strange.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “You’re just imagining things, Eri! Now go and support your friend. We’ll be fine.”

Eri frowned at the forced cheerfulness in the other girl’s tone. “Elena. Tell me, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting like this for awhile now.”

Elena’s expression changed, the forced smile fading from her face, a scowl appearing on her face that startled Eri a little bit, wondering what was going on but she didn’t move her eyes from her friend’s face, waiting for her to speak.

“I’m not the one whose strange Eri,” Elena said bluntly. “Your friend is the one who seriously has poor taste.”

Eri stared. Wait, what? She opened her mouth to speak, to say something but Elena didn’t let her as she continued to talk.

“I always thought Rei was kinda cute as a kid even if he had a bad attitude,” Elena said, eyes narrowing a little. “And while his bad attitude has faded away, he certainly has no taste. He’s cool and dare I admit it, super handsome, and could pretty much date anyone he lays a hand on whenever he wants yet he chooses someone who has no style or care of what he wears, someone who barely comes out of the closet or know anything about anything.”

Eri felt her fist clench and her immediate urge was to throw a punch at her friend, for not only insulting Haru but talking about her two precious friends like that but used every ounce of self-restraint in her to stop herself. Her cheeks had begun to turn red, the flame practically flickering in her eyes.

“Those are my friends you’re talking about, Elena,” Eri said, voice barely level as she stared down her friend. “You’re lucky you didn’t say that around Rei because he’s nowhere near as nice as Haru is and if I’m barely holding myself back from punching you. I know Rei wouldn’t be able to hold himself back from chewing you out for that.” She used one arm to hold back her other fist to make sure she didn’t rush forward to punch the other girl. It didn’t matter if they were friends and fellow idols who had grown together to reach where they were. She still wanted to punch her, but she wasn’t a child anymore and couldn’t give into her impulses like this.

“Um Elena-chan, maybe you should leave this,” Alice tugged at her friend’s sleeve and Eri had a feeling that Alice was able to tell the burning rage building up inside of her.

“She’s the one who couldn’t leave it well enough alone, Alice,” Elena replied. “I wasn’t saying anything, was I?”

“Forgive me for being worried because you were acting odd!” Eri snapped, forcefully holding her fist down even more. “I guess I didn’t realise you could act so petty about my two friends dating just because you had a crush on one of them.”

Elena opened her mouth to speak and Alice tugged at her sleeve a little more insistently, making to say something to discourage her even further clearly when another familiar voice interrupted them.

“Is there a problem here?” The voice was gentle and kind as Izumi Kagura, one of the best idols internationally and Eri’s role model for wanting to be an idol stepped out. Seeing her elegant presence made the anger dissipate slightly as she stepped back. She didn’t have time to deal with Elena right now, she needed to get to her friend’s Live Launch.

“Just a little bit of a disagreement,” Alice quickly chimed in. “Eri-chan, It’s getting late, you need to leave, don’t you?”

Eri blinked at her other friend and nodded. “Yeah, I have to go.” She gave Elena another hard glare before heading towards the exit. She didn’t realise Izumi-san was following her until the other spoke.

“Eri-san?” Izumi said gently.

Eri turned slowly to face her role model. “Yes, Izumi-san?”

Izumi smiled. “I overheard a little bit of your conversation with Elena-san. Defending your friends is an admirable trait, Eri-san. Just be careful ok? While Elena-san is simply acting in terms of a childish crush, many people in Japan are still not comfortable with the idea of two people with the same gender dating one another. It’s still not a commonly accepted idea in our country.”

Eri bit her lip. “I understand that, Izumi-san but I can’t stop myself from defending Haru and Rei if anyone says anything against them, at least with my words. I’m sorry.”

Izumi shook her head. “Don’t be. It’s an admirable trait, just be careful, alright?”

Eri nodded, smiling. “I’ll do my best!”


	2. A Ray of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Applidrivers all gather at Astra's Live Launch and old friends meet new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there everyone! It is the 21st here in Sydney so here I am with another chapter which I hope you love a lot. Thank you for all the lovely reviews and I’m so glad the effort I put into this is showing in the work. I hope you all enjoy this chapter just as much as the first one and thanks a bunch to ‘CrystalIeris’ for betareading this chapter for me. Please sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy.

  1. ** A Ray of Light**

Ai was the first person to arrive at the starting of the Live Launch. Upon arriving she saw the crew still getting ready, so she stayed out of the way, watching as people worked behind the cameras.

“Ai! Hey!” Astra called out, noticing her and running over. “You’re the first one here. Are the others coming?” He looked around and Ai smiled at him. She knew how much it meant to him for everyone to come here, though she knew she better ease his worries.

“Yeah, I spoke to Haru-kun and Yuujin-kun,” Ai told him. “They’re on their way, I just got here a little bit early, but I promise everyone’s coming. I spoke to Eri-san a few days ago and she was enthusiastic about coming. Rei-kun and Hajime-kun have left too, but you know their apartment is the furthest away.” She placed a hand on Astra’s shoulder. “Just relax, ok? None of us would miss your important day, Astra-kun.”

Astra grinned. “Yeah, you’re right! I guess I’m just a little nervous. I just hope this goes well... I’m gonna go make sure Akuma has everything ready to go by the time the show starts, ok?”

Ai nodded, letting him runoff, left to wonder about this new friend. She had heard Astra mention Akuma a few times about how much he had helped him improve the quality of the videos and how he was always around to invent things for him but had never met the person himself.

“Ai-chan!” A familiar voice distracted her from her thoughts, and she looked up to see Haru and Yuujin standing in front of her. Wait, when had they gotten here? She must have gotten lost in her head again – a common habit when it came to being a children’s book author. Haru was the one who had called out to her.

“Hey,” Ai said with a small smile. “You two are here just in time. The show will start pretty soon.”

Yuujin sighed in relief. “Thank god, I was sure we would be late if I took a shower.”

Haru laughed. “I told you we wouldn’t be. You should listen to me more often, Yuujin.”

“I do listen to you,” Yuujin insisted. “I just didn’t want us to be late, that’s all.”

Ai giggled a bit. “Well, you’re not late, don’t worry. The launch hasn’t begun yet.”

Yuujin smiled before frowning as he looked around. “That’s good, but where are the others? They’ll miss out on the beginning.”

Just as he said that Eri came running into their midst.

“Sorry!” Eri panted, looking out of breath. “I got caught up in something. Did I miss much?”

Ai shook her head. “You’ve arrived just in the nick of time. Although, Rei-kun and Hajime-kun…” She bit her lower lip, feeling as if her friends would be late if they didn’t get here soon. Hajime had told her how much he wanted to support Astra during the launch, so she didn’t want them to miss anything.

“I’ll call Rei-kun,” Haru said softly, taking out his phone and Ai had to smile. Even though it had been 2 months into Haru and Rei dating, her childhood friend had not dropped the honorific yet. He claimed that was just the way they were, and she accepted that. She watched her friend talk with his boyfriend, but realised the Launch was beginning as well and knew that they better find their seats.

“We should go,” Ai said to Yuujin and Eri. “It’s starting.”

Haru looked up from his phone call, mouthing “I’ll join you guys in a sec, go right ahead.”

All three of them nodded and headed to their seats, making sure to take the front row as the curtains began to open.

* * *

“Yeah, Haru, there’s just a little bit of traffic,” Rei spoke to his boyfriend over the phone, earphones plugged in so he could talk and drive without having his concentration become lapsed. “Has the Launch already started?” He saw the slightly anxious expression on his little brother’s face, knowing he had wanted to get there on time.

“It’s starting now,” Haru replied. “Yuujin, Ai-chan, and Eri-san have gone to watch it start. How far away are you guys?”

Rei looked at the GPS plugged in separately from his phone to confirm how much longer it would be. “We’ll be there in about 5 minutes.”

“I’ll wait for you guys,” Haru said.

“Haru, you don’t have to, you should enjoy the show and we’ll come to join you guys soon,” Rei insisted, not wanting his boyfriend to waste time waiting for them.

“I’ll be alright,” Haru assured. “I mean I can kind of see the Launch from standing right here too so I can still enjoy it, then we can enjoy it together. Neh, Rei-kun?”

That was just like Haru – using logic and emotion together to reassure him that everything was fine. That skill was something Rei had always appreciated about his friend even before they had begun dating.

“Alright,” Rei said, tone a mixture of being exasperated and fondness, the latter something he couldn’t help letting seep into his tone. Haru’s kindness, being too considerate at even the smallest thing, was endearing and one of the reasons he had even begun considering the other boy as something more than a precious friend. “I’ll see you there then, ok?”

“Okay, please drive carefully,” Haru said softly. “I love you.”

Rei’s cheeks flushed a bit and he cleared his throat, a little too embarrassed to say the words right now, especially in front of Hajime, but he didn’t want to hang up without saying anything either. “I – Yeah, you too.” The words were only barely loud enough for Haru to hear it, but he hoped they got the message across before they hung up the call.

Hajime giggled. “Oniichan, you don’t need to worry. I’m sure your feelings got across to Haru-san.” His little brother’s tone was slightly teasing, and a scowl appeared on Rei’s face as his flush deepened. He reached over, tousling Hajime’s hair, knowing he had spent a fair bit of time getting ready for Astra’s launch. A smirk appeared on Rei’s face when his little brother was the one to scowl slightly at him now.

The light-hearted teasing and leg-pulling had strangely become a part of their life. Hajime had become more of a friend rather than just a responsibility. Hajime would always be his child, but now he was also someone he could share certain things with; however, those things did not include the depth of his feelings for Haru, that was way too much information. Rei wasn’t even ready to face the intensity of his feelings for Haru. It made his heart race and his face turn a dark shade of magenta when he thought about what he felt for too long. The feelings were overwhelming and the idea of feeling this strongly for someone, someone who was not Hajime, was still so new for him, and it was a feeling he did not want to lose. Teasing was simply not what he needed when it came to Haru.

“Finally, we’re here,” Hajime’s relieved voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Do you think we’ve missed too much of the Live Launch? Astra-san will be so upset by us being this late.” There was a genuine anxiousness in his brother’s voice, the previous teasing tone, replaced by a more hesitant one.

Rei gave his Hajime a soft smile. “It’s alright. Haru said he’d wait for us and I’m sure Astra will understand that we were caught up in traffic. We’re here now, at least, right?” He didn’t want Hajime to worry too much.

Hajime’s face relaxed somewhat, and he nodded. The two of them made their way inside, Rei catching sight of Haru waiting for them, walking over to him.

“Hey,” Rei greeted his boyfriend.

“Hey,” Haru said, smiling and taking Rei’s hand a little shyly, causing him to flush but slightly tighten his grip on the other’s hand as his boyfriend lightly tousled Hajime’s hair as well. He vaguely heard Hajime pouting and complaining that he wasn’t a kid anymore, but for some reason, the mere touch of Haru’s hand made Rei’s heart skip a beat and every sound seemed to fade from his ears. Every movement seemed to be drowned out when he was with his boyfriend. Was this love – these out of whack emotions that he didn’t really think he could explain with logic? The only explanation he had was that he liked it enough to take a few seconds to realise that he had blindly followed Haru, who had led him to a couple of seats that the others had saved for them.

He blinked to regain a sense of his surroundings, mentally berating himself for not being more alert of what was going on. With Haru, it might be fine to be a little careless, but it wasn’t like him and he should be more aware.

Rei brought his focus back to the Launch and had to admit that his friend’s Tea Ceremony on Live in front of thousands of people looked cool. His gaze shifted over to Hajime, seeing the twinkle in his brother’s eyes as he watched, and he couldn’t help but smile. He had noticed in the last few years that watching Astra’s Apptube videos and hanging around with him had made Hajime look a lot happier than he otherwise did, laughing and just being light-hearted in general. Rei was happy that there was someone else beside him who could make Hajime light up and experience the life he had always wanted his little brother to have.

“Astra-kun outdid himself in this one,” Haru said, bringing Rei’s attention back to his boyfriend, who also had a smile on his face as he watched the show. As a young child, even as a dream, he had never pictured his life changing this much. He had always felt his sole purpose in life was to live for his little brother, but Haru had opened him up to so many new possibilities, shown him a world he had never thought existed. Looking at the world through Haru’s eyes made everything seem like it was so beautiful. He sat back, realizing his hand was still intertwined with Haru’s, but somehow, he didn’t mind. He could get used to this.

* * *

Hearing the cheering in the audience made Astra’s heart soar. He could feel everyone’s happiness, everyone’s smiles and it gave him so much energy that, even as an adult, he felt like jumping in joy. He couldn’t help it! No matter how old he got, his inner child would always remain alive. He tilted his head as Akuma stood beside him.

“Looks like it was a massive hit,” Akuma said. “You did it, Astra-kun. I always knew you could.”

Astra beamed at his friend. “I totally feel everyone’s happiness. But…” He grinned wider. “I couldn’t have done it without you. You went all out with the costs of this Live Launch and the quality of your gadgets has improved so much more, I felt that.”

Akuma smiled, shaking his head. “Astra-kun, we’re friends, after all. It’s no big deal.”

Astra laughed, rolling his eyes before remembering, “Speaking of friends, you promised you’d meet mine today, so come on. The Launch is over, I wanna meet them, and I want to introduce you as well.” He tugged at his friend’s hand. There had been opportunities to introduce Akuma to his friends before, but the other had always been too busy, or all his friends hadn’t been there. Today, however, he could see all his friends in the audience.

Akuma sighed. “Yes, yes, I remember. Let’s go meet them then.”

“Great!” Astra said, eyes filled with his usual fire as he led Akuma over to his other friends in the front row.

“Tora!” Eri was the first person to greet him. “Your video was great! You gave everyone an Explosive Punch!” She was so excited that she didn’t even seem to notice that there was someone with him.

“It was really fun to watch,” Yuujin added, in a softer voice than Eri. “I could feel your passion for the Tea Ceremony.”

Astra grinned at Yuujin and Eri. “Thanks, guys! I’m really glad it did so well; I felt the response! I feel amazing!”

“Astra-kun has been working really hard for this day,” Ai said gently before she looked at Akuma, who had been quiet until now. “Who is your friend, Astra-kun?”

“Oh, this is Akuma Hagiwara,” Astra said, gesturing to his friend. “Remember? I told you guys about him. All these gadgets and the resolution and stuff that you see in my video, it’s all thanks to him. Akuma, these are my friends. He invented everything!” Astra turned to Akuma, a hand gesturing to his group of friends. “The one that asked about you is Ai Kashiki – she owns a bookshop and she’s a total candy-cane. You probably already know my friend, Eri Karan, since she’s one of the top idols in Japan, and not all that bad looking either.” He winked at Eri, who glared.

“Shut up, Tora!” Eri snapped, about to go into a tirade, cheeks steadily turning redder, but Astra continued before she could, making her glare at him even more.

“And this is Yuujin Oozora, he’s pretty smart and cool,” Astra said, causing Yuujin to flush a bit. “With him is Haru Shinkai, he’s awesome and totally family since he’s always been encouraging me and stuff. Then there’s his boyfriend, Rei Katsura, and Hajime, Rei’s little brother. They’re both pretty cool even if Rei can be kinda emo sometimes.” He grinned at Rei when the other glared at him while tousling Hajime’s hair affectionately as he introduced his younger friend, who pouted at him for the gesture a little, before focusing on Akuma.

“Oh, that sounds interesting. It’s very nice to meet you,” Hajime said, tapping his chin. “So, you invent things, Akuma-san?” His eyes were lit up as he focused on Akuma.

Akuma smiled and nodded. “I’ve always had an interest in making different things out of already existing objects. There are so many possibilities, after all.”

“Astra-kun has spoken a lot about you,” Haru said softly. “Thank you for helping him out so much today. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“The video was really of good quality,” Yuujin added, smiling. “We watch Astra’s Apptube videos occasionally, so I could tell.”

Akuma glanced at Haru and Yuujin. “It’s nice to meet you both too. Astra-kun is very precious to me and he has a lot of talent for these things. If I can help him unlock that potential, I’m happy to.”

Astra smiled. “Akuma’s pretty awesome like that. He’s always helping me out with these little things, and I wanted you guys to meet him for a while since, ya know, I totally feel all of you are the reason I’ve come this far and all.”

“You better not forget my collabs either, Tora, or I’ll give you an explosive punch,” Eri said, although her tone was playful like it always was. “But glad to meet you, Akuma. You better continue to treat Tora right though or I’ll give you an explosive kick.”

“Eri!” Astra said, exasperated. “Geez, don’t scare my friend before he even knows that you can’t land a kick.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can totally land a kick!” Eri said indignantly, putting her hands on her hips and glaring. “I’ll land a kick on you right now if you insult my abilities again.”

“Uh,” Akuma wrung his fingers together, looking between Astra and Eri. “Please don’t fight.”

Rei rolled his eyes. “These two are always like this. I forgot to pack Aspirin this time.” He rubbed his forehead and Astra glared at his friend even though he knew he was joking. He totally didn’t feel it!

“Rei-kun,” Haru tugged at the other’s hand.

“Yeah, what?” Rei sounded bored. Hajime sighed a little, pinching the bridge of his nose as Haru rolled his eyes at Rei, despite a slight smile playing on his lips.

“Akuma-san, please don’t mind them,” Hajime said softly. “We honestly appreciate you looking out for Astra-san so much and helping him out whenever you can. Astra-san and Eri-san just tend to get into minor disagreements at times.”

“It’s just fun to get on Eri’s nerves,” Astra said with a grin to both Hajime and Akuma.

Akuma chuckled a bit. “I see, so they’re like an old married couple then, huh? And no, it’s really no big deal. He’s my friend too and he always talks about you guys a lot.”

“Yeah, kind of like that, I guess,” Hajime said softly although his light-hearted smile seemed to drop, causing Astra to glance his way, wondering what had happened. He saw Rei look at him as well, but the younger boy did not say anything, so Astra wasn’t sure if he should ask right now in front of everyone. He didn’t want to make things awkward in Akuma’s first introduction to his friends.

“You’ll get used to Eri and I being like that eventually,” Astra said to Akuma instead.

Akuma smiled. “As long as you’re not fighting, it’s alright. I just don’t like seeing friends being hostile to each other, that’s all.”

“I don’t mean to cut this short,” Eri said. “But I only had enough time to come watch this. I had Alice and Elena cover for me so I could come here, but I do have to get back to work. Sorry, Tora.”

Astra smiled, shaking his head. “Nah, it’s totally cool.” He knew how hard it was for Eri to take even a little time away from work as an idol, and the fact that she tried so hard – well, he could feel it.

Eri smiled, looking at Akuma again. “I have to go, but don’t worry about Tora and me, we’re always like this. It’s kind of our style to keep things interesting in the group. It was nice meeting you though.”

“Likewise,” Akuma replied politely.

Eri hugged each of her friends in turn, except for Rei since he wasn’t really the type; Astra didn’t even know if Rei let Haru hug him either. He hugged his pink haired friend back, glad that she had come. Having her in the audience meant a whole lot to him.

“I should probably get going too,” Akuma said after Eri had left. “I promised Dad I’d be home early since I have to help him with a couple of things.”

“Yeah, sure,” Astra said to his friend. “I’m just glad you guys could finally meet, to be honest.”

“It was very nice to meet all of you,” Akuma said, extending out a hand towards Haru to shake, which the other boy took, and they shook hands, before pulling away and leaving from there as well.

Astra turned to the rest of his friends. “If you guys aren’t busy or anything, we should all hang out for a bit. I know Eri can’t be here right now, which sucks, and I don’t feel it, but maybe we could do something at the bookshop and Eri could join us after work?”

“That sounds fun!” Hajime said, cheering up, which Astra was glad to see. The blonde wasn’t sure why his friend had gotten down on himself in the first place, but he looked better at least. Hajime glanced at Rei. “That’s okay, right Oniichan?”

Rei shrugged. “Sure, I guess it’s fine. We did take out today for this, so might as well. I don’t have work either.”

“Plus, it’s a good excuse to spend time with your boyfriend, right?” Astra said, grinning at his friend.

“A-Astra-kun!” Haru protested, going pink as Rei scowled at Astra. The blonde chuckled at both of their reactions to his words.

“Yeah?” Astra said, making his most innocent face, grinning widely. His friends were so funny when they were flustered.

Yuujin snickered as well. “Don’t make my best friend pass out, Astra-kun.”

Ai giggled too. “This is amusing to watch, but I don’t mind us all doing something together at the bookshop. Poor Eri-san has been working really hard too, so she’d appreciate more opportunities to relax with her friends.”

“Yeah!” Astra agreed. “I mean, I think it’s awesome that she made time out for me, but still, she totally needs a break.”

“Idols don’t always have the liberty of taking a break,” Rei pointed out bluntly. “Eri isn’t a child anymore. She can’t just drop everything for the sake of her friends. Even if she wants to, that isn’t always possible for her.”

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and help her as much as we can though,” Astra said to Rei shrugging. “She may not be a teenager anymore, but so what? We haven’t changed despite not being teenagers anymore either, right?”

Haru smiled a bit, squeezing Rei’s hand before he could say anything else. “Astra-kun has a point, Rei-kun. We’ve all managed to remain friends and been there for each other even with our responsibilities, haven’t we? Even if we can’t lessen Eri-san’s responsibilities or her workload, we can try to make it a little easier on her, neh?”

Rei’s cheeks flushed and he nodded a bit but didn’t say anything in response. It made Astra snicker at the effect that Haru could have on Rei when he wanted to.

Ai smiled. “Then let’s go, shall we?”

Astra nodded. “Yeah, sounds good!”


	3. My Love is Pure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru and Rei share their first kiss. Eri, after some pondering and encouragement from both Coachmon and Dokamon, signs a contract as a singer for Starlight. Izumi offers both encouragement and caution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Here we are, as promised, with another new chapter. I hope you enjoy and once again lots of thanks to 'CrystalIeris' my wonderful mentor and betareader who has helped me come this far in my journey as a writer.

  1. ** My Love is Pure **

Haru tilted his head to the side when he saw Rei’s cheeks flush, smiling a bit. He liked seeing his boyfriend lighten up and be at ease around him and their other friends because he deserved to relax. He was so preoccupied in watching the love of his life that he didn’t realise Yuujin, who had been walking in front of him had stopped suddenly causing him to stumble into his best friend. He would have fallen back to the ground if Rei had not reached out and caught him, pulling him up.

His breath caught a little at the closeness and whilst it was something he had definitely gotten used to, in a good way, being so physically close to the other still made his heart start beating a little faster. He had to remind himself how to breathe methodically in his head. _This is probably not normal. We’ve been dating for months now, after all and yet Rei-kun can take my breath away, like we’re still in the stage when we were crushing over one another._

“Haru, are you okay?” It took a few seconds for Haru to blink and realise that Rei had asked him a question and he had just been silently melting in the other’s embrace, having lost sight of his surroundings for a few moments.

“I-yeah, sorry,” Haru said, face heating up at the realisation of how long he had been silent for this whole time. “I just didn’t realise Yuujin had stopped walking, that’s all so I lost my balance.”

“Sorry for stopping so suddenly,” Yuujin apologised to Haru.

Haru shook his head. “No, no, it’s okay. I should have been more aware of my surroundings, it’s alright.”

Rei looked between Haru and Yuujin for a minute, expression mulled over as if he was deep in thought before speaking. “Yuujin, Haru and I will catch up to you ok?”

Yuujin blinked. “Okay, yeah sure.”

Haru blinked at his boyfriend as the other took his hand, pulling him to a bit more of a private space where there weren’t any people.

“You sure you’re okay?” Rei asked again, bringing Haru’s attention back to his boyfriend.

Haru smiled. “Yeah, I’m alright, really.” _My heart is still racing a little, I wonder if Rei-kun can hear it. _

“Rei-kun?” Haru asked, wondering if something else was wrong as his boyfriend’s brilliant red and gold eyes locked into his own, making his heart begin to race once more. Those beautiful eyes that always reminded him of a kindling fire that could warm him even on the coldest day were quite intense as they peered into his own.

“Haru, I…” Rei opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t seem to form the words, even as he closed the distance between them and reached out a hand to touch Haru’s cheek, own face turning a light shade of pink as he did this, pulling his hand away as quickly as he put it there.

Haru felt his own cheeks heat up, heartbeat beginning to race even more, breath catching in his own throat even as he subconsciously leaned into the touch. He wasn’t sure what to say but another part of his mind told him that he didn’t really need to because it would disturb the purity of this moment, the innocence of this tender memory that would leave a precious mark on their hearts but also because he didn’t want to push the other to rush anything.

The silence between them remained for a little while and Rei opened his mouth to speak again.

“H-Haru?” Rei said softly, voice catching on a stutter as he spoke. “C-can…can I kiss you?” His cheeks went from pink to red and Haru knew his own cheeks were of the same colour but he slowly nodded his head, still not trusting himself to speak right now because there were no words that could describe what he was feeling. People had always talked about having butterflies in their stomach when approaching their first kiss and he had never believed. But right now, his stomach was tying itself into knots and his heart was racing but none of these feelings were negative.

As Rei leaned closer, pressing his lips against Haru’s, he felt himself melting once again in his boyfriend’s embrace. Despite having been dating for six months soon, he and Rei had never shared their first kiss until today. And in this moment, as their lips meshed into each other’s, everything faded in the background. All Haru could feel was the sweet sensation of his boyfriend’s lips against his own and this feeling, every second of it was beautiful. Even when the kiss ended, Haru rested his head against Rei’s chest, eyes closed, not wanting to pull away or at least not at this very moment. _Just a little bit longer._

* * *

Eri loved being an idol and she liked the idea of transitioning into a singer too because she knew she wouldn’t be able to leave a lasting impact on the world through just being an idol alone, but she also knew there would be challenges. Just as much as Alice would face when it came to being an actress and as much as Elena would face becoming a TV anchor. Not to mention the working hours. Already – she hardly got any time to be with her friends or spend time with her Mom and signing the contract to work with this new company, she knew she was taking a huge risk with it.

“Eri-chan, are you okay wasu?” Dokamon asked, appearing beside her in CHIP-form.

Eri gave her Buddy a small smile, realising he was probably worried because she had been hovering the pen over her contract for awhile. “I don’t really know what to do. I can’t last as just an idol forever, I need to branch out as one of the Nine Gods now. I’m getting a lot of offers but…” She trailed off. There were times when she wished she could go back to just being a teenager because life was so much easier then and she didn’t have the responsibility of making such decisions for herself.

“Is it a bad thing to be scared, wasu?” Dokamon asked. “I mean, it’s like Haru always says right? You won’t know until you try right?”

“No, it’s not a bad thing, I just feel like I neglect the people I love enough as it is,” Eri said sighing. “I don’t want to let this opportunity go away either though.”

“Well, Eri-chan has a few days to think about it right?” Dokamon offered. “Maybe you could talk to the others about it. Your Mom too, wasu!”

“What’s there to think about?” Coachmon asked, also appearing in CHIP-form. “You’ve worked hard to come this far, Eri. You were willing to go through any sort of training I put you through just to have a chance to be one of the Nine Gods. Now you’re not only one of them, but you have a chance to be more than that.”

“Don’t put pressure on Eri-chan when she’s stressed out already, wasu!” Dokamon scolded Coachmon. “She needs time to think about it.”

Eri bit her lower lip. Coachmon was right, she had worked so hard back when she was just a teenager to even reach this point and now her future was clear, based on one signature. Her career had always been important to her because she had not only always wanted to make people smile and encourage them to follow their own dreams, but she never wanted to rely on someone else for her own future.

“No, Doka-chan, it’s okay,” Eri assured her Buddy. “I understand where Coachmon is coming from, even though his words are harsh. They helped me clear a few things in my mind. I was just looking for excuses like talking to my Mom and the others about it because I was scared. This is a new step for me, after all. But I didn’t come this far to just give up.” She signed the contract, looking up at Coachmon with a smile. “Thanks, Coach.”

Coachmon beamed at her. “I knew you’d come around to making the right decision, Eri. It’s going to be fine as long as you keep putting in the effort.”

Eri nodded. “I’m going to keep trying, thanks for reminding me, Coach.” Her eyes lit up with her usual fire despite the creases of exhaustion that lined her forehead but somehow, that wasn’t important. Bringing a smile to people’s faces made everything worth it.

* * *

“That’s really great, Eri!” Izumi, her mentor said, clasping her hands together, beaming when Eri told her about the contract. “Starlight is one of the best International franchises in all of Japan and if they’ve offered you a contract as a singer, they chose you out of so many other idols they could have selected. Did you accept the offer?”

Eri nodded, a smile on her face, eyes lit up, despite the long day. “Yeah, it was too big of an offer not to take up to be honest. I’m not really sure what to expect though or what I should prepare for on my first day at Starlight.” In truth, being an idol had become her comfort zone and stepping outside of it, even just the thought made her heart race. Was she even ready to take this step? Her heart raced as the thought of wanting to pull away entered her mind once more. This was such a huge commitment after all. _What if I’m really not ready? _But then, Coachmon’s words revolved around her head again. She had come way too far to not give it her all now. Training under Coachmon since she was a young child, learning how to leave proper reviews from Perorimon, Haru and Astra supporting her in every way they could to train for the elections every single time – she couldn’t, no she wouldn’t let all of that go to waste even if the idea of stepping into the field of singing was new and made her heart race. She wouldn’t let her friends down, even if it meant giving herself an explosive punch if her fear pulled her back from taking a step forward.

“Try not to let it overwhelm you,” Izumi advised, as if guessing how she was feeling which made Eri wonder if she looked as nervous as she felt. “Moving forward in your field or taking it in a completely new direction can be a little bit daunting because you’re trying something new and that’s never an easy task. But the key is to not look at the small details like that and to focus on what you can do.”

“I’ll try,” Eri said nodding. “It’s a lot easier said than done but a lot of people have helped me reach this far. I can’t afford to not give it my all actually.” Although, Starlight was a huge company to work in and to extend her future but it was also a new form of pressure, because she would have to prove herself worthy of the selection every step of the way.

“Also, Eri,” Izumi said seriously, drawing her attention back. “Going into a company such as Starlight, your challenges won’t only be working the hardest you can to become an amazing singer. It’ll be more than that.” Her expression faltered as she said this and Eri was surprised to see the normally calm and composed idol with such an almost numb expression on her face, as if she were trying to keep herself calm.

“What do you mean, Izumi-san?” Eri asked, almost afraid to know the answer to that question. She had seen the dark side of the idol industry from how some of her fans would look at her or even how the general public eyed her even when she was out on a casual trip with her friends but was it even worse? Wild scenarios whirled around in her brain and she had to force herself back into the actual conversation that she was having right now, waiting for Izumi to reply.

“There are many wolves in the industry, ready to rip any new face into pieces,” Izumi said softly. “They’re practically prowling around to tear apart innocence to shreds. Eri, protect your innocence. Become successful on your own efforts, not by compromising to those higher up. Maybe you’ll gain something quicker by compromising and agreeing to cooperate with people who have connections but you’ll lose yourself. Your innocence, your spirit, the will to always do the right thing and Eri, that is something that is priceless. Success will come sooner or later. It might take longer if you do the right things and go in the correct way, but you will get it eventually. But your innocence – once it’s lost, you can never bring it back.” She took Eri’s hand into her own, staring into the other girl’s eyes deeply. “Promise me, Eri. Promise me you’ll guard that innocence no matter how long of a road you have to take.”

Becoming one of the Nine Gods, Izumi had become more of a friend to Eri than just her role model and even then, she had never heard the other woman sound as serious about anything as she did right now. Her gaze was soft but also held a passion in it, which was unlike what she had when she was on stage but one that seemed to want her to understand what she was telling her. It felt right now, that there was a protective light around her that was shielding her from anything harmful and if anything even tried to get close as long as Izumi was there beside her, it would be unable to reach her.

“I promise, Izumi-san,” Eri said and she meant those words. “I’ll guard the person I am, my values, my morals, the innocence I still have remaining with my life. I won’t bend or compromise on anything. Anything I want to become or achieve, it’ll be because of my own efforts. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I’d give an explosive punch to anyone who disagrees.” She smiled, putting her own free hand over Izumi’s, locking gazes with her friend.

Izumi’s face seemed to relax a little at that, her usual cheerful smile returning to her face. “Thank you, Eri.”


	4. Sun in my Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime is confused and distracted by his own feelings. Yuujin notices this and offers some advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so hello everybody, how are you all doing? I’m doing really good myself and finally have holidays so is that awesome or what? I can write more and give you lovely people hopefully some completed stories. Thank you for all of the support you’ve given me and thank you to CrytalIeris for betareading this chapter once again. I’m quite proud of how this chapter flowed so yeah.

  1. ** Sun in My Sky**

Hajime played a light game of soccer with Yuujin, which amounted to just passing the ball around, mainly because he didn’t really understand how to play soccer even though he did enjoy hanging out with his older friend even if he could not make a single goal. Today, it wasn’t that he was just bad at kicking the ball but his mind kept drifting to what Akuma had said about Astra and Eri. It made his stomach twist uncomfortably and he didn’t understand why. _Why can’t I explain my feelings through facts and logic? They’re a lot easier to understand than these emotions are._

“Hajime-kun?” Yuujin’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts and Hajime turned to look at his friend, taking a moment to realise that the other was looking at him in concern because he had been standing deep in thought for a good few minutes now.

“Oh sorry, Yuujin-san,” Hajime said, feeling his cheeks heat up at how spaced out he had gotten. “I just got a bit lost in my own head.”

“Hajime-kun,” Yuujin shifted from one foot to another, looking at him. “I know I’m not as good as Haru is at this kind of stuff or as good as Rei is with you in general but well…you can talk to me if something’s bothering you. I can at least listen even if I can’t help with anything.”

Hajime thought for a moment. Yuujin was friends with Astra but he wasn’t as close as Haru or Eri were to him and talking to his brother about this kind of thing was awkward because well, he’d rather like his crush to remain in one piece if that’s what Astra was. “I want to, but I’m not really sure my thoughts even make sense in my head, that’s all. They’re not really very logical and I feel like I’m not making sense even though I haven’t started talking about anything.”

Yuujin smiled a bit. “It’s okay not to make sense sometimes. Ai-chan says we have a lot of different thoughts running through our minds sometimes but even when they’re confusing, those thoughts are important.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not sure if that helps.”

“No, it does,” Hajime said, and he meant it. It didn’t help him make his thoughts any more coherent but hopefully what he said would make some amount of sense to his friend anyway. “Just please don’t tell Haru-san about this, not yet, at least. Not until I figure out my own feelings about it.”

Yuujin nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t tell anyone anything you want to keep between us. Want to sit?” He gestured to the grass and Hajime nodded, moving to sit down, crossing his legs and figuring out where to even begin.

“Do you remember when Akuma-san mentioned that Astra-san and Eri-san were like a married couple?” Hajime asked, figuring that would be the best place to start if he wanted to explain things in a way that made some sense and didn’t sound like he was talking in another language.

“Yeah,” Yuujin looked thoughtful. “I noticed you went kind of quiet after that.”

Hajime had not meant for his silence to be that obvious and his stomach twisted into a knot. “You did?” His eyes widened a little. “Astra-san didn’t notice, did he? Did he ask you about it?” His heart started to race a little and not in a good way like it did sometimes when he thought about Astra.

“Whoa, whoa, Hajime-kun, calm down,” Yuujin said, raising his hands and placing them gently on the younger boy’s shoulder. “He did notice but I think he was just worried that his friend might have offended you, that’s all since he didn’t ask me anything afterward, at least.”

Hajime tried to calm himself down. “But what if he asked the others? I didn’t want him to notice, it was just an instinctive reaction and I couldn’t really help myself and it just happened, and I just didn’t like that comment.” He realised he was rambling, but he couldn’t seem to stop from working himself into a panic.

“Hajime-kun, please look at me,” Yuujin’s voice was soft but it held an authority in it that made Hajime look at his friend, despite the fact that his heart was still racing.

“Yeah?” Hajime asked, trying to stop his voice from shaking.

“You know, Astra would never push something that’s making you uncomfortable,” Yuujin insisted in a firm tone of voice and his friend sounded so confident that Hajime actually began to calm down, focusing on his words as he continued to speak. “Astra has always had a soft spot for you and tends to notice things about you that aren’t very obvious either. Even I managed to pick that up and I still don’t understand a lot about observing things like these. Being around Haru, I’ve gotten better but still, Astra would never push you even if he is worried about you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Hajime said, heartbeat beginning to slow down. “I didn’t like what Akuma-san said. I don’t even know why I didn’t like it, but it made me feel really lonely.” He knew that didn’t make sense, but he didn’t want to sound too insecure and admit that the idea of Astra and Eri dating made him feel like he would be left behind. Eri-san was beautiful and confident, anyone would be lucky to be with someone like her. Meanwhile, he was shy, had the social skills of a baboon and people didn’t really like sticking by him for long.

Yuujin blinked a bit. “It made you feel lonely? The idea of Astra and Eri being together, you mean? Sorry, am I completely getting this wrong?” His cheeks flushed.

“N-no,” Hajime admitted. “You’re not getting it wrong at all, Yuujin-san. I just…it took me a long time to consider Oniichan’s friends as my friends too and Astra-san was one of the first people I was able to do that with, other than you because you reached out to me.” He looked down at his feet. “Dad walked out on Oniichan and I. Even though Oniichan always said it wasn’t my fault, I know it was. I missed Mom and I cried way too much. Anyone would be annoyed, and he said that no one would ever want to remain around me. Oniichan always stayed but I could never really make friends of my own. I was too scared they’d run away from me because I’m not really the type of person people want to be friends with, you know? I guess I’m scared. I don’t want Astra-san to go away too.”

Yuujin was silent for a moment and Hajime had to wonder if he had said too much. He wasn’t good at talking about his feelings, especially because he tried not to focus on feelings like this and instead focused on what he could do to improve things and find a way to make them better. But Yuujin was easy to talk to, and always had been, because the other listened and never judged any of the thoughts that overwhelmed him at times.

“I’ve felt that way before,” Yuujin finally admitted. “It was when Haru started dating Rei. I was happy because it made Haru so happy and brought a smile to his face, but it scared me because Haru’s relationship with Rei had changed. I mean, Rei’s always been special to him, even when we were children and that didn’t bother me, because we’re all friends after all. But Rei becoming Haru’s special person, I thought it might change mine and Haru’s friendship too. I feel like he would want to spend all his time with Rei and I’d eventually be left behind. It was irrational but I guess after all I’ve put Haru through, I wouldn’t blame him for doing that.”

Hajime blinked for a moment. He had always thought Haru’s relationship with his brother changing would have some sort of effect on Yuujin but somehow, he had never realised it would be this much.

“Haru-san would never leave you behind just because he’s dating Oniichan,” Hajime said firmly and was a little taken aback at the confidence in his own voice right now. He didn’t even doubt that something like that could happen because Haru was so good at balancing all his relationships so well.

Yuujin laughed. “I know that now, it was kind of silly to think that at the time, but I guess insecurity is never really rational, Hajime-kun.” He paused for a moment before continuing what he was saying. “Haru and I are childhood best friends after all, and despite my circumstances he believes everything we shared was real, and I’ve tried to as well. But Haru falling in love with Rei doesn’t mean I won’t have value in his life anymore. Haru’s always said that everyone has their place in people’s lives, and no one can take another person’s place. I can’t take the place or meaning Rei has in Haru’s life, but Rei can’t take my place either. I mean, I like you and if my relationship with one of my friends begins to change, I wouldn’t just drop you because they’re in my life now. That’s not right and I don’t think Astra would do that either, to be honest. Even if he and Eri-san decide to rename their relationship into something else, they’re both your friends too and aren’t going to drop you for each other.”

Hajime bit his lip. He wanted to believe Yuujin but there was a nagging voice in his head that kept saying that someone as cool as Astra would eventually grow bored of him. “H-how can you be so sure, Yuujin-san?”

“Just the way you can be about Haru and me,” Yuujin replied simply. “Hajime-kun, it didn’t even take you a second to say that Haru would never leave me behind no matter if his relationships change with those around him. I feel the same way about you and Astra. I’ve seen how much he cares about you. Since studying psychology, I have tried to be more observant of how the people around me seem to act and I noticed back there. When you and Rei arrived, Astra seemed to really light up seeing you especially. I also think you’re selling yourself short. Rei’s not the only person who’ll stay, Hajime-kun. None of us are going anywhere.”

Hearing it said so bluntly by Yuujin, who normally didn’t have a lot of confidence about things brought tears to Hajime’s eyes and one even cascaded down his cheek. He hadn’t realised how much the fear of being abandoned was deep-seated inside him until he had heard Akuma say those words and the possibility of Astra moving on from him because he was too boring had made his reaction so instinctive that he couldn’t even attempt to repress it in public.

“T-thank you, Yuujin-san,” Hajime managed to say, voice a little bit choked but he was glad he had decided to talk to Yuujin about this. “I’ve always tried…” He let a few more tears fall down his cheeks, despite the small, somewhat relieved smile on his face which he realised probably looked a little bit alarming due to the contradictory display of emotions. “I’ve always tried to ignore this fear, push it aside because I want to focus on making Oniichan proud and happy. It’s always been my dream and I know he would be really sad if he knew he couldn’t help my emotional problems. I don’t want that. I just want to make him happy.”

“Well, who says Rei has to know about it?” Yuujin said, reaching out and pulling Hajime into a hug. “It can be our secret right?”

Hajime rested his head against Yuujin’s chest, looking up at the older man and couldn’t help but admire how far he had come from when he was brought back to them. Despite his struggles, he had never let the second chance Haru gave him go to waste and was always working to better himself.

“Yeah,” Hajime said softly. “I don’t want Oniichan to know about this.”

“I promise I won’t say anything to Rei,” Yuujin said and Hajime could see the honesty shining in his green eyes so he knew his friend really wouldn’t say anything. “But Hajime-kun? I want you to promise me something as well.” His tone was still gentle and soft.

“Oh? What?” Hajime asked although he had a pretty decent idea on what Yuujin could be asking it was a little hard to believe unless he heard it from the other.

“I don’t want you to deal with these feelings alone either,” Yuujin replied. “I understand not wanting to worry your loved ones, especially Rei, but you shouldn’t have to bury those feelings deep inside. If you can’t talk to Rei because it’ll make him upset, then will you share those feelings with me? Whenever you feel down, even if you don’t understand the depth of what you’re feeling, even if it’s confusing and you feel like the words don’t make sense, I want to be able to be there for you when you’re feeling like that.”

Hajime finally managed to stop the tears from falling but he thought about Yuujin’s words. His heart did feel considerably lighter after sharing those feelings and he would be able to be more genuine in wanting to focus on making his brother whilst not having to push down his negative emotions. He did want to be able to share those feelings with someone but…he bit his lower lip.

“I would promise you,” Hajime admitted softly. “But it doesn’t seem fair to you. My thoughts when I’m feeling down or overwhelmed, that’s a burden no one should have to bear.”

Yuujin tousled Hajime’s hair. “It’s not like you’re forcing me into it or anything. I want to help you, Hajime-kun. Being there for you, being able to help you through situations you don’t really understand, while it definitely helps you, in a way, it’s mutual because you’re also helping me.”

“Yuujin-san,” Hajime murmured softly but didn’t interrupt because he could sense the other was not quite finished yet.

“I know I try not to think about it because it’s not productive, but I was made to watch over Haru because he was the grandson of Minerva’s creator,” Yuujin said softly, voice shaking a little and now Hajime was the one to tighten his hug around the older man, trying to give him the courage to continue.

“None of us blame you for what happened back then, Yuujin-san,” Hajime said softly, hoping those words of his would somehow help Yuujin to continue what he wanted to say.

“I know,” Yuujin managed to say, before exhaling a little. “But working to become a child psychologist, being able to be there for you, being kind to all my precious friends, it makes me feel like I’ve found a purpose beyond what I was made for initially. My friendship, my feelings, my love for Haru were real and that was something that belonged to me. Those feelings, that affection – when Minerva asked me if there was a friend I would give my life for, that answer that I gave, I don’t know if it was just my programming that made me think of Haru but when I actually made that decision, to make that painful choice for Haru – those were my feelings. I knew I would die without ever telling Haru how sorry I was, without maybe even not getting the chance to tell him that I did care. But he brought me back to him and gave me that chance, not just to make things up to him, but to find a purpose more than what I was made for. Helping him, helping Rei, helping you, it helps me more than you know because seeing all of you able to smile, well…” He trailed off but Hajime understood what his friend was trying to say. What he had said and how much it meant to him to be able to help him through his problems.

Hajime smiled, hugging Yuujin even tighter. “Haru-san has always been right about you, Yuujin-san. The real Yuujin, his best friend is always so kind even now, even after all of these years and even after everything he’s been through.” He paused for a moment, realising his own words had come to him as Yuujin was talking. “I promise, Yuujin-san. I promise whenever I feel like this, I’ll come to you. I’ll talk to you.” He knew it might take some time but he had managed to open up to his friend today and he was glad for it so he wanted to at least try, especially if it meant that he was helping his friend in return as well.

Yuujin smiled. “Thank you, Hajime-kun.” He didn’t say anymore but he didn’t need to, it had all been said and done.


	5. A Matter of Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru learns that sometimes a blunt criticism is better than a sugar-coated truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, lovelies! How are all of you? I know the publication date says the 30th, but its actually New Year's Eve here in Australia where I am which is perfect for me as I can wish everyone a Happy New Year! Happy New Year, everybody. I hope 2020 proves to be a beautiful year for all of us. I am also thinking of choosing a new username for myself and have two options. The first one is 'black-lioness' because I feel it has a powerful impact and represents my personality. The second one is 'fallingsnow' because I like how it sounds because snow even when it falls, it's pure and white. Please vote in your reviews and enjoy this chapter. ^^

  1. ** A Matter of Trust**

Haru was reading through Ai's first draft of her new novel and his forehead was wrinkled as he was focused on what he was reading. Being a lover of books and just being willing to enjoy them, it was hard for him to give constructive criticism at times, going into how much he enjoyed the contents of the actual book. That was until his childhood best friend decided to be a children's author and whilst she had her editors and publishers, he knew she liked to refine her work as much as possible before sending it to them so he had told her he was willing to try giving her constructive criticism as best as he could.

That was, however, easier said than done. It just felt so mean picking apart someone else’s hard work and he bit his lower lip. _I can see a few things that could be done better but Ai-chan’s worked hard on this, how can I just bluntly tell her that?_

“Anything, Haru-kun?” Ai asked, bringing out the tea with Rei, causing him to look up at his childhood friend. She had an eager look on her face, although he could sense the apprehensiveness behind her look as well.

"I can't see any issues with it," Haru said smiling softly. "You've written it really well." He felt a stab in his heart as if something were pinching him and felt another gaze on him, looking to see his boyfriend watching him closely. He quickly averted his gaze, not wanting the other to guess how he was feeling since he was so good at that.

"Haru-kun, are you sure?" Ai asked, tapping her chin, looking thoughtful. "I feel like there are a few things I could have written differently or better, which was why I asked a second opinion since it might just be my wanting of everything to be perfect talking."

"I, well…" Haru shifted a bit. Maybe he shouldn't have offered to do this constructive criticism, because he did not like critiquing his friends on their hard work.

“Haru?” Rei spoke up suddenly. “Will you help me get the cookies and the plates? Ai can help Astra pick out a movie or we’ll be here all night.”

“Oi,” Astra glared at Rei before Haru could reply right away. “I can decide a movie, I just don’t know which movie to decide, because everyone likes different genres and I wanna make everyone happy, you know?”

"Exactly my point," Rei said dryly, rolling his eyes. "Ai, you and Haru can discuss your story while we're watching the movie too, right?"

“Yes, of course,” Ai replied softly. “Go on, Haru-kun.”

Haru nodded, having never been gladder for Rei's blunt approach as he was right now. He walked to the kitchen a little too fast, going towards the oven but as he moved his hand towards the handle of the oven, he realised it was still hot and yelped, jumping back in alarm.

“Haru!” Rei said, hurrying to dab a cloth in cold water and wrapping it around his hand. “Are you okay? Here, make sure the cold seeps deep into your hand, so it can take away the heat. Let me also get you some burn-aid just in case so you don’t feel the sting from the burn.” He had gone into work-mode, although an undercurrent of worry lay in his expression.

“Rei-kun, calm down,” Haru quickly grabbed Rei’s hand with his hand that wasn’t now wrapped in a cold cloth. “I moved my hand away immediately as it touched the hot surface, so I didn’t actually burn my hand, I promise.”

"It doesn't hurt to be careful," Rei said firmly, grabbing a tube of Burn-Aid, just in case and beginning to apply it to his hand, moving the cold cloth so he could get to the area and Haru sighed, allowing him to do so. His boyfriend was rarely pushy about anything and tended to be easy-going about nearly everything unless he got something as small as even a papercut. Even if it was just a small scratch that was not even bleeding, Rei would begin acting as if there was something life-threatening going on. Once his boyfriend was satisfied that the cold cloth and Burn-aid would heal his wound – which wasn't even there – he pulled away from what he was doing.

“Rei-kun?” Haru began softly and once his boyfriend looked at him, he continued. “I’m not going anywhere, you know.”

Rei blinked a bit. “I didn’t say anything like that- “

“You don’t have to,” Haru said softly, squeezing the other’s hand in his own. “You always get so worried when I get the smallest injury, like a papercut as if it’s going to lead to you losing me, even though something like a papercut especially when it’s not even bleeding isn’t exactly life-threatening. I promise I’m not going anywhere, Rei-kun.”

Rei put his hand over Haru's one, averting his gaze a little. "I-I know you would never leave me, not as long as you had the choice. I trust you but…" He trailed off as if he weren't sure how to continue because words were difficult to muster up sometimes especially in a moment like this one but Haru waited. He didn't want to interrupt, not until the other could find the words to talk about his fears. The silence remained for a little while before the other finally spoke again.

“I want to protect you,” The words came out in a hurried rush, as if Rei had forced them out, as he would never say them or admit them had he not pushed them out in the way that he did. It was clear he had not wanted that to come out as bluntly as it just had because his cheeks reddened as soon as the words came out and he shrunk down a little bit, looking almost small against the benchtop despite being taller than Haru.

“Rei-kun,” Haru murmured softly. Despite having known this, knowing that the other wanted to protect him, to shelter him, hearing him say it so openly to him left him at a loss for words but he knew to see the love of his life look almost terrified at admitting that, he had to say something to make him relax a little at least. "It's okay. Don't be afraid of admitting that. Remember what I said back then, Rei-kun. You don't need to be afraid of showing your true feelings around me, even if it's scary to admit that. I promise it's okay." His voice was soft, and he could feel Rei's body begin to relax, despite the terrified look not disappearing from his eyes and he didn't speak right away, as if he were worried the words wouldn't be enough.

“Mom died, Dad left,” Rei said quietly, keeping his gaze on the ground. “Hajime was kidnapped by Leviathan. You came into my life when the only one I had was Hackmon by my side and changed everything completely despite how much I pushed you away. I want to protect you. This world is fucked up, it sucks but somehow, it sucks less when I’m with you.” He finally looked up, a slightly intense gaze in his red and gold eyes. “Something like a papercut or a small burn might not be life-threatening or even really hurt you too much but I guess, it might be illogical or even downright stupid, but I want to protect you from the smallest thing that can cause you even a twitch of pain.” He went silent then, cheeks still red, the colour not fading from his cheeks and whilst Haru had been silent whilst his boyfriend spoke, he knew why. Rei was never this expressive because expressing emotions like this was hard and it was easier to stick to logic. Emotions could not be explained by logic though, especially ones as pure as those that Rei had just expressed right now.

Haru gently brushed his thumb against the finger of Rei’s hand, letting his words settle in before speaking but at the same time, wanting to reassure him that he understood the feelings he had expressed to him.

"Rei-kun," Haru said softly. "I know it must have been so scary to admit these things, but I feel the same way towards you. You're one of the strongest people I know so maybe…it isn't in the same way but no matter how much the world is horrible and cruel, you always have a home to come back to with me. And as for protecting me, you already have, Rei-kun. Since we were teenagers, you've always protected me even when you haven't known it."

The colour was slowly beginning to fade from Rei's cheeks and the terror that had been his eyes also seemed to vanish, replaced with something Haru even now didn't see that much and that was a relief. Although they had become a lot closer in all these years, Rei still struggled to express himself securely because words were complicated but more than that, due to the situations the other had been put through as a young child, he struggled with what the appropriate expression would be.

“It’s okay to want me to be safe,” Haru said softly. “I just…I guess…I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m going to leave you, Rei-kun. I love you.” He went as his red as his shirt now because he knew when he said these words to Rei, they held a completely different meaning than when he would say them to someone else such as Ai-chan and Yuujin or really, any of his friends. The words held a stronger meaning, one that made his heart race so quickly that he was almost worried it would come out of his chest.

Rei's cheeks had gone red again at Haru's words and he opened his mouth to speak but was unable to form the words once again so he just nodded, which was all he could manage right now but that was alright. Haru didn't think he could form words right now anyway so he didn't try at all because he didn't think it would make sense. It didn't even make sense in his head, so he let the silence linger between them and even when they were both so flustered, the silence was not cutting or like there was a desire to end it somehow. It was comforting as if it were trying to capture this tender moment between them forever in time and keep it there. At least until Astra's loud voice rather rudely interrupted them.

“Oi Haru, Rei!” Astra called out. “You two making out in the kitchen or something? Come on already, we’ve picked out a movie!”

Rei flushed more at Astra’s words somehow, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like ‘idiot’ which caused Haru to giggle before blinking as he remembered the look in Rei’s eyes earlier.

"We'll be right there!" Haru called back, before turning to look at Rei, the redness fading from his own cheeks. "Rei-kun, you wanted to say something to me before, didn't you? You normally never call for me to help you out in the kitchen when Ai-chan is here." His face fell a little, thinking on how he hadn't been entirely honest with his best friend earlier but he hadn't wanted to dismiss her hard work by saying that she had a fair few points that she should revise to make her story even better.

“Oh,” Rei’s redness also faded from his cheeks as he looked thoughtful before nodding. “Haru, is it bad to give Ai constructive criticism for her novel?”

Haru blinked a bit and had to wonder if his boyfriend could read his mind sometimes or if he was just that good at guessing, he wasn't sure which one it was, to be honest, but he nodded. "Ai-chan and I grew up together, we've always been together for as long as I can remember. I can tell how passionate she is to want to make children smile, to bring a little bit of happiness into their lives with her stories. She spends nights staying up and writing those first drafts. Sometimes, she'll spend the whole night and only come out with a paragraph the next morning. And that's just the first draft and sometimes, she'll scrap those entirely and start her second draft from scratch." He shifted a bit, eyes watering a bit. "I admit, the draft she showed me needs work. There's a lot of interesting parts in it and it's an amazing story. But some parts are unclear and some scenes that could be changed or even removed so better scenes can be written in their place. How am I supposed to tell her all these things though? It feels like I'm dismissing her hard work." He brushed the tears that had begun to build away, not liking his thoughts right now.

“Haru, tell her what you just told me right now,” Rei said bluntly. He could see Haru about to protest to that but continued before he could. “You’re not insulting Ai’s hard work at all by saying that. Didn’t you just say the story was really interesting as a whole and you really enjoyed it?”

“Yeah, but…” Haru looked a little puzzled. “I also said there were parts that could use some work.”

"You're saying the story has potential, Haru," Rei said softly. "If those improvements were made, the story has the potential to be even better. Insulting Ai's work would be telling her it's a piece of shit and she should scrap the entire thing because she has no talent. I believe the technical term is called flaming. It's when a person only gives an opinion on a story to point out how bad it is. You're not doing that, Haru. You're telling her what she's done well so you are encouraging her but at the same time, you're also pointing out what she could do better because you believe she has the skills for it, to help her improve and be the best at what she does."

Haru thought about those words, he was complimenting her on what he liked but also pointing out what could be improved so it was an honest review and Rei had a very logical point. His boyfriend never said things just out of comfort, he always tried to find the logic behind things and the way he had put that so clearly made the feeling of anxiousness fade from his system. He never wanted to hurt Ai's feelings in any way but as Rei had pointed out, he was helping her. The heavy feeling in his heart that had built up earlier was no longer there.

"You're right, Rei-kun," Haru admitted quietly. "All this time, I guess I felt as if I was being dismissive of Ai-chan's efforts by pointing out things that could be improved but what you said makes a lot of sense. I do just want to help Ai-chan be the best version of herself after all." He smiled softly. "Thank you, Rei-kun."

Rei squeezed Haru’s hand back. “No problem.”

* * *

Ai had helped Astra pick out the movie but then her thoughts drifted back to Haru's words earlier. He had said her first draft was amazing, but something felt off with his words like he couldn't meet her eyes when he had said that. Haru couldn't lie to anyone period – but they had grown up together. He had never been a good liar and he had been all too eager to follow Rei to the kitchen too.

“Ai-chan, are you okay?” Yuujin’s voice startled her suddenly as she had thought he was out with Hajime, having fun playing soccer since he was the only one out of them who could kick the soccer ball and was always willing to play with Yuujin.

"Yeah, I'm alright, just thinking about some things," Ai said, giving Yuujin a soft smile and it wasn't a lie either because she was thinking about things. "You guys are back pretty early, is everything okay?"

Yuujin and Hajime exchanged a small smile.

"Yeah," Yuujin said softly. "Since we're all deciding to hang out together and watch a movie, we thought we'd come back early so all of us can spend time together."

“We finally picked out a movie too, so I totally feel that!” Astra said happily. “You ok now Hajime? I was worried about you.”

Hajime flushed a bit but smiled. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that Astra-san. I didn’t mean to worry you. I hope Akuma-san wasn’t offended by my silence and didn’t think I disliked him or something.”

Astra shook his head. “Nah, it’s not like Akuma knew you from before or anything, he probably didn’t even notice, to be honest. I just noticed because I tend to notice this kind of stuff about you and all.” He shrugged.

Ai had to bite back a giggle as Hajime flushed more at that. Only Astra could say something like that so casually without considering the implications of it. It didn’t matter how old he got either; he would always go with the flow.

“So where are Haru and Rei?” Yuujin asked, deciding to move the topic away from Hajime.

“They went into the kitchen to get the cookies and the tea,” Ai said softly, her expression furrowing over in concern. “But they shouldn’t be taking this long to get back here.”

“Oi Haru, Rei!” Astra called out. “You two making out in the kitchen or something? Come on already, we’ve picked out a movie!”

Ai could just imagine the look on both Haru and Rei’s faces after those words, shaking her head at her younger friend. “Astra-kun…”

“Yeah, what?” Astra said, looking genuinely confused because Hajime had started laughing while Yuujin was snickering.

"We'll be right there!" Haru's voice was heard, calling back and Ai smiled a bit. Her friend sounded okay verbally but he had been acting strange back then when she had asked about her novel. Was she imagining things? No, she knew him well enough and that not willing to meet her eyes fully had not just been her imagination. That much she was sure of. She tilted her head to the side, watching her friends joking around and her gaze stopped at Yuujin. Should she talk about it with him or should she ask Haru directly? _I don’t want to bring Yuujin into this unless I must. My books are always something Haru-kun and I work on together. I’ll just talk to him when he comes back in here._

Ai tried to relax and focus on the movie they were watching because overthinking would not help her at all. She blinked though as her childhood friend came through with Rei and he seemed perfectly alright, so she was beginning to wonder if she had imagined it after all.

“Okay, here we are,” Haru said placing the plate of cookies down as he sat down. “So, did you manage to pick out a movie?”

“Yeah, finally!” Astra said. “Ai and I were stuck on like this one movie but then we decided to pick one out that everyone would enjoy, you know?”

Haru smiled. “That’s good then. Sorry for taking so long, Rei-kun and I got a little bit distracted, that’s all.” He flushed a bit at that.

Yuujin laughed a little at that. “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me though.” He winked at his best friend, which somehow not only made Haru go redder than he already was but also made Rei flush, scowling slightly at Yuujin before looking away but even Ai could tell there was no real displeasure behind that expression.

“Yuujin!” Haru protested causing Yuujin to laugh more.

“I’m sorry, Haru,” Yuujin said, tone not apologetic in the least. “But it’ll always be fun flustering my best friend, no matter how old we get.” He tousled Haru’s hair. “Right Ai-chan?”

Ai smiled. “Of course! It’s best friend duty, Haru-kun, sorry.” She winked at her childhood friend, who pouted at them both.

“Do I feel that?” Astra said, doing his usual pose.

“Or do I not?” Musimon added, joining him.

"I totally do!" They said together and Ai giggled at that as Haru flushed redder. She didn't even know that it was possible for someone to turn as red as Haru was right now but well, it was possible to learn something new every day.

Hajime giggled a bit. “Guys, stop teasing my future brother-in-law ok? He’ll pass out if you make him go any redder.”

“But that’s fun!” Gatchmon said in protest, having been in another room up until now, discussing something with Hackmon. All the Appmon had been talking in a group a lot lately and Ai had to wonder what they were talking about.

“Also, you’re not helping either, Hajime,” Rei added, having gone as red as Gatchmon’s helmet at Hajime calling Haru his brother-in-law.

Hajime batted his eyes, all wide-eyed innocence. “I’m sorry Oniichan. I was just trying to help.”

Ai laughed. Her friends were all amazing, but she noticed the colour on Haru’s cheeks was beginning to fade away and he glanced her way. He didn’t speak but she could tell from his expression that there was something he wanted to say to her.

“Alright, guys,” Ai said softly, wanting to give her childhood friend a chance to say whatever he needed to say without drawing much attention to him either. “We should probably get that movie started so we can reach the interval before Eri-san gets to the bookshop and then she can relax with us.”

Yuujin nodded. “Yeah, we probably should.”

Everyone gathered around, sitting to watch the movie whilst Ai sat beside Haru on a couch, so they wouldn’t disturb the others who might want to pay attention to the movie. Astra and Hajime tended to get the most involved in the movies they all watched together because Hajime got invested in the plot and Astra got into the technical side of things, so she did not want to disturb that.

“Did you want to say something to me, Haru-kun?” Ai asked him softly. “I could tell from the look on your face before.” She made sure to keep her voice low as not to disturb anyone else.

Haru nodded. “Yeah, I…before when you asked for my opinion on your story, I wasn’t being completely honest. I did really enjoy the story a lot but that doesn’t mean there weren’t parts in it that could be written better.” He paused for a moment. “I’ve never been good at giving criticism and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings but talking to Rei-kun made me realise I wasn’t saying your work was poor, so it wasn’t really insulting or dismissive of your hard work.”

Ai thought about this. She had guessed something was bothering Haru back then but had not been able to tell the exact reason he wouldn’t look her in the eye but as he said those words, it made sense. Her childhood friend was a little too considerate for his own good at times.

“Rei-kun was right,” Ai said softly. “I mean, just because you enjoy my work, Haru-kun, doesn’t mean you can't tell me if there's something I could improve on. It won't hurt my feelings, especially if it's coming from you because I know you only want me to produce my best work. I would never take anything you say about my writing as a personal attack. But, will you tell me which parts need reworking so I can make my story even better than it was?" She wanted to make her story the best it could be and to make children light up in joy and want to read till the end of her story. She took Haru's hand in her own, giving her a soft smile, hoping it would help him feel more comfortable in explaining it to her.

Haru nodded. “Yeah, I want to help you, Ai-chan. I’m sorry, I just wanted to tell you that your story is perfect and ignore those areas that needed correction but…” He trailed off, returning the pressure but Ai shook her head.

"Haru-kun," Ai said softly. "If you help me correct these errors and revise my story now, I'll be able to send something better to my publisher and editor. They won't have as much to look over and I'll produce better work overall. I want children to gain the best experience out of my stories." She squeezed her friend's hand a little bit tighter. "I can only do that with your help. So, let’s make a masterpiece together ne?”

Haru smiled now. “Yeah, let’s do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, a huge huge thanks to 'Crystal_leris' for betareading this chapter for me.


	6. A Helping Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eri deals with some trouble after a tiring day at work. Astra's friend, Akuma steps in to help her out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! Ok so this came a little off schedule but the schedule didn’t seem to be working too much for me so I decided to just let it go. Oops I sound like Elsa…anyway, this chapter was really fun to write, so I hope you have a fun time reading it. Thank you to the amazing 'Crystal_leris' for betareading this chapter for me.

  1. ** A Helping Hand**

All Eri felt like doing right now was getting home and collapsing in her bed. Ai had messaged her, however, telling her they were having a sleepover at her place and everyone was relaxing together. A part of her was tempted to say she was just too exhausted but being around her friends always made that exhaustion melt away and she could use that right now.

She sat in the changing room for 20 minutes, as she could not find the strength to stand back up because she had been on stage or at least backstage for the last 3-4 hours with work.

“Eri-chan,” Dokamon buzzed around her in CHIP-form. “Are you okay, wasu?”

Eri smiled a bit, her shoulders slumping as she rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, I’m okay. I just need to get myself up so I can head out to see the others.” She groaned, wanting to give herself an explosive punch because even when she had started moving, a snail could move faster than she was going right now. It was as if she were dragging herself forward and still not succeeding.

“You can do it, Eri-chan!” Dokamon cheered her on and Eri laughed, somehow, her Buddy’s enthusiasm giving her a small amount of energy. He didn’t always realise how much he did for her but she knew she would never get through her long, tiring days without Dokamon by her side. He wasn’t only her Buddy, but her best friend, her biggest support system and the one that could make her stand back up when all she felt like doing was collapsing onto the floor.

Her legs felt a sharp aching pain with each step she took, but the sooner she got out of here and to the bookshop, the sooner she would be able to rest. She began heading out of ‘Reaching Beyond’, the new company that had taken over Appliyama 470 since L-Corp had eventually become completely obsolete a few years after the defeat of Leviathan. This new company had taken a much different turn however and had reached well beyond its limits.

Stepping out of the building, she rubbed her eyes once more. _Come on already, all I have to do is walk to my car. I can stay awake long enough for that at least. _She mentally berated herself for being so sleepy and a sudden chill of wind that blew through her hair made her a little more alert as she headed towards her car.

“Ah, imagine my luck, running this late into a beautiful young idol,” A young man stepped out, a cigar in his mouth, his messy black hair almost becoming one with the night sky as he stepped towards her. He looked around the same age as she was, his eyes a smoky grey colour.

Eri’s whole body was instantly on the alert, all signs of sleep gone as she recognised the look she saw in the boy’s eyes. It was a look she was more than used to getting from her fans or other people in the industry but no matter how used to it she was, it never made it any easier to accept other people viewing her as if she were a piece of meat ready to be devoured. However, she plastered her usual pleasant smile on her face.

“I’m sorry,” Eri said, sounding as if they were having a casual conversation. “But my working hours are over so I really must retire for the night.”

The boy stepped a little closer. “Aren’t you going to ask for my name, Eri-sama? It’s not like I’m keeping you here all night.”

As the boy stepped closer, Eri had to twist her nose in disgust at the stench of smoke coming from his very breath, overloading her senses which wasn’t helpful when she was already exhausted from work. She could also feel how ragged his movements were and could tell from the drowsy look in the boy’s eyes that he was probably drunk. Her lack of response seemed to encourage the boy to reach out, brushing a hand against her shoulder which made Eri yank herself back towards her car. She was about to open her mouth to tell the boy off but she didn’t need to.

“Is there a problem here?” Another voice called out and Eri looked up, eyes widening slightly as she saw the person who had come was someone she had just met earlier at Tora’s Launch today. Akuma Hagiwara, the person who had been helping Tora with his use of gadgets for the Apptube videos.

“Yeah, you’re interrupting, that’s the problem,” The boy drawled and it was this time that Eri noticed, that his voice was slightly slurred as well.

Akuma sighed, rolling his eyes. “It seems to me like you’re the one bothering this lovely person after a tiring day from her job.”

“What’s it to you?” The boy said. “She your girlfriend or something?”

“No, she’s important to a very dear friend of mine,” Akuma said honestly. “I don’t like people bothering my friend’s important people. So please leave before I call the police for sexual harassment.”

The boy glared but it seemed as if the mention of the cops worked, something which Eri was a little bit taken aback by because this kind of thing was usually ignored even by the cops but was glad when the boy listened and left her alone. Once she was certain that he had left, she turned to Akuma.

“Thank you so much,” Eri said to him. “I’m surprised you were out this late though.”

Akuma smiled a bit, shrugging. “I was hanging out with some of my friends and just heading back home. I recognised you from a distance and sensed trouble so I came to have a look.”

Eri smiled a bit. "Thanks again. I probably should get going though.”

Akuma nodded. “Alright. Take care.”

Eri sat down in her car, placing her hands on the steering wheel. “At least Tora’s hanging around good company.”

“Akuma seems really nice, wasu,” Dokamon said. “It’s a good thing he came to help you out.”

“Mm,” Eri agreed, not sure what to think of Akuma, he seemed nice enough and had helped her out, so she was grateful for that. However, being an idol had taught her to observe people and after Dad, she had learnt to observe men a little more than usual. Still, as of right now, she had no opinion.

* * *

Akuma had to admit for such a well-known celebrity in the industry, Eri Karan had handled that situation fairly well even before he had intervened. _Astra always did say she was a strong girl whenever he spoke of her._

Meeting Astra's friends for the first time back then, they felt more like his extended family rather than his friends. They were all so close-knit to each other, playful, teasing but at the same time, so supportive. He couldn't imagine being like that with any of his friends. Sure, there was some light teasing and they would joke around but not to the extent Astra and Eri had been with one another.

_“You better not forget my collabs either, Tora or I’ll give you an explosive punch,” Eri had said._

The young woman's tone had been playful but the idea of someone threatening their friend even in a playful way and especially threatening to punch them was something odd. The two had begun bickering too and although the others had all said it was normal, he still found it a bit strange even though he could tell it was something that just worked for them.

All of Astra’s friends were exactly as he described them, although they were much different from Astra himself. Rei was the slightly distant and aloof one, Hajime was sweet but a little shy and Yuujin was really friendly. Haru was friendly and kind as well as very polite when he had greeted him. The young man’s ocean blue eyes shined with such an innocence which was a rare sight nowadays and even when he had parted ways from the group, he had watched the young man – Haru from a distance even as he was walking away before mentally berating himself for doing so. He was Astra’s friend after all and he barely knew anything about the other, so he had forced his gaze away and left but somehow, the image kept flashing back in his mind. The final greeting as he said goodbye to Haru and locking gazes with the young man before he finally forced his gaze away.

_Get. A. Fucking. Grip. Akuma. This is your friend’s close friend. Get him out of your head. _Yeah, that was right. Astra was important, he was the one who was the most important right now and there was no way he was going to do anything to hurt him.


	7. From the Heart, It Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! So as you can see, I am not following my schedule but its a little harder with University especially because I haven't been able to backlog anymore. That said, here's Chapter 7 where I introduce an idea that I sort of developed on my own even if it isn't entirely my own - I found something similar, well the title on Wikipedia and decided to take it and put my own little spin to it. Thank you to 'Crystal_leris' for betareading this chapter and I hope you all enjoy it.

  1. ** From the Heart, It Begins**

Dokamon had joined the other Appmon late that night with Eri, so he hadn't had a chance to catch up to them then but luckily, humans slept a long time. Gatchmon had been talking about helping the Deep Web and he wanted to find out if he could help somehow. Seeing Eri still sleeping, he floated out in his CHIP form, flying around until he finally caught sight of Gatchmon in one of the many rooms of Ai’s bookshop. Haru was sleeping curled up onto the bed with Gatchmon sleeping in CHIP-form beside him.

“Gatchmon!” Dokamon whispered louder than a person would usually do so but he wanted to get his friend’s attention without waking up Haru as well. Thankfully, it worked and Gatchmon stirred, opening his eyes.

“Doka, what is it?” Gatchmon said sleepily. “You’re going to wake everyone up if you’re any louder and the others need the sleep.”

“Sorry,” Dokamon said lowering his voice. He didn’t need to be so loud now that he had Gatchmon’s attention, after all. "I was just curious about you know that thing…" He didn't know all the details himself after all but he knew bits and pieces. He just guessed that Gatchmon and the others had discussed it while he was with Eri so he wanted to know more.

“We’re going,” was all Gatchmon said simply. “We’re going to talk to Haru and the others about it when they wake up. But we think they’ll want to help out too, after everything.”

Dokamon’s eyes lit up with glee. “That’s amazing, wasu! I wanna come too!” He was so loud that Haru began to stir a bit and he quietened down immediately causing Gatchmon to roll his eyes.

“Okay, okay,” Gatchmon said quickly. “We’ll discuss it later when the others are more awake, so go back to Eri ok?” He kept his voice hushed and quiet, noting that Haru shifted back into sleep when he had lowered his voice a little. Dokamon felt it hard to contain his excitement so he nodded to Gatchmon, floating away from them in CHIP-form to go rest beside Eri.

* * *

“An Appmon school?” Haru said blinking when Gatchmon and the others told the group at a late breakfast since Eri had gotten to the bookshop late the night before so they ended up staying up and thus sleeping in as a result. The sofa he was sitting on was soft, allowing him to lean back into it as he listened to the Appmon talk.

“Yeah!” Gatchmon said, pacing back and forth as he spoke for a moment, before stopping and looking at the others. “It’s a project Tutomon and MCmon have started up and we’ve been thinking of helping them. I mean, we’d have to spend a lot of time in the Deep Web and probably wouldn’t be around as much but this is a big opportunity and we don't want to waste it."

“It’d be there to help teach Appmon in how to do better in what their app is used for, offu,” Offmon added in.

Eri blinked a little, legs crossed as she bit into her toast, cup of tea in her other hand. “Is it kind of like Doka-chan teaching MariPero on how to write better reviews?” She still remembered that even after all these years.

“Kind of, wasu,” Dokamon said nodding. "But for someone who specializes in reviewing Appmon, they'd be taught in class by another Appmon witht that specialization who has more experience wasu. So they can perfect that and be the best in their job wasu.”

Ai smiled softly. "That sounds so wonderful and a nice goal too."

“I totally feel it too!” Astra said cheerfully. “Musimon, teach everyone to follow the rhythm of their heart ok? You'd totally be the best teacher there!"

“Of course, I will, yo!” Musimon said enthusiastically.

Rei glanced at Hackmon. “Do you want to help them out too?”

Hackmon nodded. “A lot of the Appmon in the Deep Web have been helping to rebuild our homes that were destroyed in the battle against Leviathan. A lot of instability came into our world and it hasn’t been easy to restore that to its former glory.”

“Remedimon mentioned that,” Yuujin said softly as he sipped his tea. “She mentioned many towns and cities in the Deep Web were destroyed because of the divide that happened between the Appmon who agreed with Leviathan and those who didn’t.”

Gatchmon nodded seriously. “That’s why the Appmon who were on our side during the battle with Leviathan are working so hard to rebuild what was there before Leviathan's promises and his threat." He still remembered those days when he would roam around a Deep Web, which was on the verge of breaking apart without anyone to turn to. Other Appmon, claiming he was too rough would keep their distance from him and there was no one he could warn about it – until one day, his search results had come up with Haru’s name and biodata. A person – a human who was also searching for a path, a solution to something and they had come a long way since then. It would be odd going back there especially because other Appmon viewed him as almost a hero in a sense, the same Appmon who had refused to talk to him back then.

“Gatchmon?” Haru’s voice made him realise that he had gotten a little lost in his head and he blinked.

“Oh, sorry, yeah anyway as I was saying, I really want us to help out,” Gatchmon said and everyone stared at him, making him feel like he had said something weird. “What? What’d I say?” He looked genuinely befuddled as to why everyone was staring at him, not even paying attention to their food anymore.

“We already had that discussion, wasu,” Dokamon pointed out. “We were just worried why you were so quiet, Big Bro Gatchmon and not saying anything. Are you okay?”

“Me? Yeah, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?” Gatchmon said and it was the truth. He didn’t dwell much on the past, he didn’t need to and it didn’t solve anything. What happened back then wasn’t important – what mattered was that those Appmon respected him now. He felt Haru watching him closely and blinked. “What?”

Haru gave him a soft smile. “No, nothing. We were just talking about the fact that all of us are alright with you helping out with the Appmon school. We can even go to the Deep Web with you guys whenever it's possible but just stick close to each other and be careful, alright? Hackmon said that those Appmon who were supporting Leviathan are usually never seen around but still, it never hurts to be careful either way."

Gatchmon smiled. “Don’t worry Haru! We’ll be fine. We’ve dealt with worse than some cronies of Leviathan.”

“Gatchmon still has the tact of a doorknob,” Hackmon said calmly and Gatchmon glared at him.

“Oi! I have more tact than you at least!” Gatchmon said defensively.

“How do you make that argument?” Hackmon asked, an amused expression on his face as if he were almost mocking him which caused Gatchmon to scowl.

“Because you’re way too blunt about everything!” was the only argument Gatchmon could come up with, which even he had to admit wasn't a very good one, but he needed time to search for things, coming up with things on the spot was not his strong point.

“Really? That’s the best you can come up with?” Hackmon said sarcastically. “A baby could come up with something better than that.”

Haru quickly intervened before Gatchmon could even attempt to retort to that. "Guys, come on, please stop fighting. You're not going to be able to get anyone to consider joining the Appmon school if they see the Appmon who are building it fighting with one another.”

“He started it, Haru!” Gatchmon protested, even though it was childish to do so.

Haru smiled a bit. “Even if Hackmon provoked you, you should be the bigger person and finish it right?”

Gatchmon grumbled a bit but nodded. “Yeah, guess that’s a point.”

“Can Boo help with the school as well?” Bootmon asked Hajime.

“I don’t know,” Hajime admitted, looking at Gatchmon and the others. “Can Bootmon be of assistance, Gatchmon?”

“Probably,” Gatchmon said. “Having an Appmon who can startup programs and all that stuff might be pretty handy even if he doesn't teach."

“There are Appmons for turning on things and starting them up, offu,” Offmon said. “I remember meeting an Onmon who was one of them. He wasn’t all that nice to me but Bootmon can teach those kinds of Appmon, offu.”

Gatchmon didn’t attempt to point out that Bootmon was too much of a child himself to teach anyone because like hell was he going to prove Hackmon’s point about him having no tact so he simply nodded to what Bootmon said. “Yeah, something like that at least.”

“You better give your all in this, Doka-chan or I’ll have to personally come to the Deep Web to give you an explosive punch!” Eri said flexing her fists.

“Of course I will, Eri-chan,” Dokamon said seriously. “I want to make every Appmon in the Deep Web smile again and give them something to look forward to, wasu! And with Big Bro Gatchmon leading us, we'll be able to."

Gatchmon couldn’t help but beam at Dokamon. "You know what you're talking about, Doka." He affectionately ruffled Dokamon’s head causing the other to beam back at him. His friend was truly the best little brother he could ever have and he appreciated how much he looked up to him, even if he played it off by being smug about it.

“I’ll do my best too, Yuujin, offu!” Offmon said happily and Yuujin smiled.

“I’m counting on you then ok?” Yuujin said softly. “Since it’s you, I know you’ll be able to.”

"When are you planning to go over there to start though?" Hajime asked. "I mean, maybe the first time, we could all go there, since it's not as dangerous as it used to be."

"Hajime, you shouldn't go," Rei said firmly. "It doesn't matter if there's not a war going on, supporters of Leviathan still exist in the Deep Web and it's not safe for you to go there when you don't have a Buddy to protect you."

“Oniichan," Hajime bit his lower lip. "I'll be alright. I just want to help. I'm a lot older now than I used to be and I can take care of myself.”

“Rei, relax, it’ll be fine, we’ll all be there with him,” Gatchmon said, trying to reassure his Buddy's boyfriend a little even though for once, he could see Rei's paranoia especially because even they didn't go to the Deep Web all that often and there were still followers of Leviathan out there, somewhere even when they hadn't shown themselves for ten years. 

“Gatchmon, maybe you’re right and nothing will happen,” Haru said softly. “But it’s better to be safe in a situation we aren’t certain of, isn’t it? I mean, I know according to your searches, those supporters of Leviathan haven’t shown themselves for the last 10 years but at the same time, since you haven’t been to the Deep Web in awhile yourself, right?”

"Well, yeah, I haven't but Hajime wants to go, Haru,” Gatchmon pointed out. "He's not a child anymore, either."

“I know,” Haru said softly and Gatchmon could tell his Buddy was thinking through something deeply before he finally spoke again, turning to his boyfriend. “Rei-kun, I understand you want to protect Hajime-kun and right now, we’re uncertain of the situation ourselves but once we are sure that it’s safe, maybe Hajime-kun could come with us next time. We’ll be with him for the odd instance if something does go wrong, I promise but he is an adult now and he’s really strong too.” He took Rei’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Rei’s expression flickered for a moment and he looked between Hajime and Haru before finally nodding. “Alright. If it’s safe, he can come with us next time.”

Gatchmon grinned. “That’s good enough, right Hajime?”

Hajime beamed and hugged his brother. "Yeah, that's good enough. Thank you, Oniichan! You’re the best.”

Gatchmon began snickering as Rei turned red at that, despite hugging Hajime back, almost hiding in the hug. It would always be amusing to see Rei get flustered by simple displays with affection and he could see Haru covering his mouth to stop a laugh from escaping. His Buddy did have too much tact at times but he supposed it was okay given it provided a balance with him and they were partners.

* * *

Yuujin wasn’t sure what to expect of the Deep Web because the only time he had spent there was minimal even after he had come back, not because he didn’t want to but Remedimon had been alright coming to the real world for his therapy sessions since being in the Deep Web was too much of a reminder. But it was alright. Offmon wanted to help out in this and he wanted to be supportive of his Buddy after how much his Buddy had been there for him. He stared out at the Deep Sea, mind whirling a little.

“Yuujin,” Haru’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you alright?”

Yuujin blinked, realising the others had been chatting amongst one another but he had been completely silent. Astra and Eri had thankfully not noticed a thing. Rei was pretending as if he hadn’t but Haru was peering at him, bright green eyes shining in concern.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Yuujin admitted. “I want to support Offmon in what he wants to do for the Deep Web but…” His expression faltered a little even if he wasn’t sure how to express his feelings, even to his best friend right now. The things he had done to the other back then still sent a chill down his spine. He had made a building collapse on his best friend. The thought made him feel sick to the stomach, maybe he should stay back home and not go to a place that might still be a trigger to him.

“Yuujin,” Haru said firmly, placing both of his hands on Yuujin’s shoulder, drawing his attention back to his best friend. “You don’t have to come with us to the Deep Web. Offmon understands, don’t you Offmon?”

Offmon nodded. “Offu! I don’t want you to be uncomfortable in the Deep Web, offu. I know you’re with me in spirit anyway.”

Yuujin shook his head. “No, I can see how much this means to you. I want to support Offmon in what he wants to do. I want to try at least.”

"If you're going to a place that will trigger you, you should stay back," Rei said, not meaning to sound harsh but still speaking in his usual straightforward way. "Offmon knows you’re supporting him whether you go or not but if you become upset about going to the Deep Web, he won’t be able to focus on what he wants to do.”

“Rei,” Hackmon said quietly as Yuujin averted his gaze. He knew Rei didn't mean it harshly, but he hated how the idea of going to the Deep Web was making him feel as if heart was sinking. He had been with Remedimon for some time now, he would have thought he had improved somewhat.

“Rei-kun is just worried that going to the Deep Web right now might not be the best mentally for you,” Haru explained, voice a lot more patient and gentle than Rei’s had been. “I don’t want you to force yourself, Yuujin.”

“But Haru,” Yuujin said softly. “What if I’m never ready to go to the Deep Web?” He didn’t know why but a part of him felt that if he didn’t face these fears, this nauseous feeling that made him feel sick to the stomach just with thinking about going, that if he didn’t get rid of it, he’d never be able to go.

Haru smiled. “I know you’ll be able to one day. Just because you’re not ready today doesn’t mean you’ll never be ready to face your fears. It just means it’s not the right time yet.”

Yuujin bit his lip. "How can you be so sure that a day like that comes?"

“I know you, Yuujin,” Haru’s reply was simple and he didn’t say any more than that but he didn’t need to. Yuujin felt his eyes water at the faith Haru had in him, the faith he always had in him no matter how much they grew up, no matter how much their lives changed.

“Haru’s right, Yuujin,” Offmon chimed in, hugging Yuujin’s leg. “I know you’re supporting me but I also get it feels scary to you, offu. I believe you’ll be ready to come to the Deep Web one day too and until then, I’ll be okay with your support just in spirit, offu! Yuujin is always by my side, whether he’s there physically or not.”

Hearing both Haru and Offmon’s words made the nausea die down and he could feel the numbness that had formed in his hands beginning to fade away. If those closest to him had faith that he'd be able to heal enough to be able to face his fears one day then maybe one day he really would be able to.

“I’ll head back then,” Yuujin said softly. “I hope you guys manage to make a headstart. I’ll take care of Hajime too.” He looked at Rei as he said this.

Rei gave him a minute smile or at least Yuujin thought it was a smile given the edges of Rei's mouth did lift up slightly so he supposed that was the closest he would get from Rei. 

“Yeah, take care of yourself first though ok?” Rei said quietly. “You can’t be of help to anyone otherwise.”

Yuujin nodded. “Yeah, I’ll head back home though.”

“Don’t worry Yuujin,” Astra said cheerfully. “I totally feel that you’ll be able to face your fears one day.”

“Just don’t try to rush it or I’ll give you an explosive punch to slow you down,” Eri said in her usual way and Yuujin rolled his eyes but smiled at them both.

“I won’t, I promise,” Yuujin said before kneeling, and pulling Offmon into a hug. “Do your best in the Deep Web ok? I know you’ll succeed for sure.”

Offmon smiled. “I’m going to do my best for both of us, offu.”


	8. Catch You When You Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Healing can be a painful process. But having those you love by your side makes it a lot easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Here is another update for all of you. Healing is a process that is painful - a process that takes a lot of time. It doesn't happen in a day so this chapter is a personal one for me but also a message to all of my friends who struggle with mental illness. You won't heal in a day, there will even be days where you'll feel like you've been pushed back but you will be able to heal so don't give up hope. You've got this. Thanks to Crystal_leris for betareading this chapter ^^

  1. ** Catch You When You Fall**

Ai stayed back at the bookshop, clearing the dishes from breakfast and genuinely hoping that the Appmon would succeed in the task they set out to do. She knew the real world had suffered more with the initiation of Leviathan’s Human Application Project. Despite that, she knew the divisions this had caused in the Deep Web had not helped. Her thoughts drifted towards Yuujin and she bit her lower lip, wondering if he was really okay to go to the Deep Web.

When Haru had finally succeeded in bringing Yuujin back, he had moved into the bookshop for a temporary place to stay. Ai would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water when she heard it. A painful cry followed by sharp breathing. When she opened the door to check on him, she could see his face paled with sweat. His entire body trembled as he looked around, as if unsure of where he was. The first few nights, he would remain silent, a haunted gaze filling his eyes and he would fall quiet. However, as this repeated itself over several nights, her childhood friend finally opened up to her about the nightmares he had been reliving.

_Ai brought in a glass of cold water after Yuujin woke up for like the third time that week, shaking and in a cold sweat. She had heard him mumbling Haru’s name constantly in his sleep so she could venture a guess as to what the nightmares were about._

_“Yuujin-kun?” Ai said after she had helped him gulp down his large glass of water. “I know it’s painful to talk about what’s haunting your nightmares and I know there’s a lot I don’t understand. A lot of things I probably can’t fix or make easier. But I can listen to you. I can be with you here right now.”_

_Yuujin felt tears cascade down his cheeks, his whole body still trembling. “I-I don’t want you to hate me as much as I hate myself right now, Ai-chan. I haven’t even told Haru or Offmon because I know they’ll just try to comfort me and I don’t deserve that, especially not from those that I hurt the most in all of this.”_

_“I could never hate you, Yuujin-kun,” Ai said softly, as she slowly brought her hand to rest over Yuujin’s one, feeling the wetness from the sweat move onto her hand. “Haru-kun told me everything or most of it at least but to be honest, I could never hate the person who’s the reason I’m still here today. The reason I’m not an application on the internet and the reason I still exist.”_

_“Ai-chan,” Yuujin began before stopping as if he didn’t know what he wanted to say. His eyes looked a bit puzzled at her response as if uncertain on why she had that particular response. She paused for a moment, waiting for him to speak. Once she realised, he wouldn’t, she decided to continue her train of thought._

_“Haru-kun had made his decision, Yuujin,” Ai said softly. “He had decided the choice he was going to make, and he had decided he was going to study A.I. to bring you back. Haru-kun made the choice to save the world. YJ-14 wasn’t the one who chose to sacrifice himself. Oozora Yuujin was. He was the one who felt the choice to sacrifice his best friend would be too hard on Haru-kun. It was his care that overtook Leviathan and Mio’s programming. It was that choice you made, Yuujin-kun. Why does it matter what you were made to do when you chose to do the opposite?”_

_Yuujin didn’t reply right away as if he were processing her words but he did appear to be calming down. She observed this by the fact that the sweat that had been on her friend’s hand earlier had disappeared but still, she waited. She didn’t want to push the other too much, but she felt he deserved to know her feelings. They had never really talked openly about this – she hadn’t spoken with Yuujin, and she definitely hadn’t talked openly with Haru either. _

_“But doesn’t being made for that purpose make me evil, Ai-chan?” Yuujin asked quietly. “I was created for the sole purpose of torturing Haru and destroy this entire world. I was created to do horrible things.”_

_Ai furrowed her brows, expression crinkled in deep thought. “Yuujin-kun, if you were friends with someone whose parents were criminals, what would you expect out of them?” Ai asked. She knew the question might seem like a random one, but she was interested to hear what his answer would be._

_Yuujin looked taken aback by this. “Well, I guess I’d assume they’d train their child to be the same way and their son or daughter would most likely be a criminal too right?”_

_“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” Ai said, smiling now. “It’s not necessarily true though, Yuujin-kun. Beautiful people can come out of horrible families and horrible people can come out of extremely loving and wonderful families. It’s never set in stone, nothing ever is. Yuujin-kun, Rei-kun and Hajime-kun’s father walked out on his two young children not long after their mother’s death because he couldn’t handle the responsibility. Rei-kun took on an almost parental role to take care of his little brother and looking at both of them, do you think either of them have turned out to be cruel?”_

_Yuujin’s expression cleared and the haunted expression seemed to wither. “I…I chose to go against what I was made for, just like humans can do the same…is that…is that what you’re trying to say, Ai-chan?”_

_Ai smiled, eyes lighting up when Yuujin managed to put two and two together, squeezing his hand which she was still holding. “That’s exactly what I’m saying, Yuujin-kun. It doesn’t matter what path was chosen for you, but the path you choose. It’s always our choices that define who we are as people.”_

_Yuujin felt more tears cascade down his cheeks. “I-I’m scared, Ai-chan. I’m scared of hurting Haru again. I’m scared of hurting you. It’s the last thing I want but I’m scared it’s embedded into my programming and I can’t stop myself from doing that. What if I stumble?”_

_Ai now reached out and pulled Yuujin close. “It’s okay to be scared, Yuujin-kun. It’s okay if the road ahead is uncertain and if taking that first step feels scary right now. It’s okay if you don’t know if things will work out in the end but I’ll help you take that first step. If you stumble, I’ll catch you before you can hit the ground and help you back up. It doesn’t matter how many times you stumble as long as you can keep getting back up when you do.” She rested her head on her friend’s shoulder, realising that the sweat that had she had felt earlier had cooled down and she wondered if it was her words that had made a difference._

_Yuujin wrapped his own arms around Ai, resting his forehead against her arm. “Even if I fail, even if I don’t make it, I want to try. Thank you…thank you Ai-chan.”_

_“Anytime,” Ai replied softly. She meant it too. She didn’t want her precious friend to ever feel like he was alone in any of this._

“Ai-san! Ai-san!” Hajime’s voice snapped Ai out of her thoughts. It took her a moment to realise that her friend had been calling out to her for the last few seconds.

“Oh, sorry Hajime-kun,” Ai apologised. “I was a little bit lost in my thoughts, is everything ok?”

Hajime smiled. “No, everything’s fine. But Yuujin-kun came back. He didn’t go to the Deep Web.”

“Oh,” Ai wasn’t too surprised by this. Talking through his nightmares had been a crucial point to start Yuujin’s process of healing, but these things took time. It wouldn’t happen in a day. “Is he alright?”

Hajime shook his head. “He seems okay. He just seems a little bit distant though.”

Ai nodded. “I can understand that. I’ll bring out some tea and snacks for both of you ok? Go on and sit with him ok? I don’t think he should be alone with his thoughts right now.” She knew how hard her friend could be on himself at times and she didn’t want to leave him alone in that mindset. Knowing him, he was probably blaming himself for not being able to go with his friends.

“Yeah, I will,” Hajime said softly. “Don’t worry Ai-san. None of us will ever let Yuujin-san be alone with his thoughts.” That was all he said as he ran off to be with his friend.

* * *

Yuujin couldn’t believe even after such a long time, he was still unable to face his trauma that came from the Deep Web and the things he had done to his best friend as a child. He had simply used Offmon, throwing him out when he didn’t need him anymore. Just thinking of those memories still made him shiver. The way Haru’s expression had lit up for a flicker of a second when he had called him a protagonist, only for it to be destroyed in the next instance.

“Yuujin-san,” Hajime’s voice interrupted his train of thought and he looked up from where he was sitting at his younger friend. “You shouldn’t let negative thoughts of your past overwhelm you. After all, you’re studying Psychology. You know how bad that can be.”

Yuujin tried to smile but he realised the smile would not come and he averted his gaze. “I can’t help it, Hajime-kun. I should be with Offmon right now, supporting him in his dreams like he’s always supported me in mine. But I can’t. Just the thought of going to the Deep Web makes me feel sick to my stomach and I feel like I can’t move, I can’t even pretend.”

“Do you honestly think anyone would be happy at you pretending?” Hajime asked his friend. “Haru-san can read you like an open book, Yuujin-san. He would know that you’re faking it and that would hurt him more. Even if it scares you, even if it doesn’t make you feel good to go to that place, one that’s haunted your nightmares for so long, it’s okay to admit that. Remember what Remedimon said to you, Yuujin-san? It’s okay to have bad feelings, we all need to have them. They’re just as important as the good ones.”

Yuujin knew that, he understood all of that but somehow it didn’t make it anymore easier to accept. The logic was not comforting right now because those facts, those logics that Hajime was giving didn’t change the crimes he had committed. The things he was still capable of doing. _I never want Haru to have that look on his face again. I always want him to be happy but what if I take that happiness away from him again? I can’t even be supportive of my own Buddy right now – now when he finally has the confidence to take a step to make such an important change to the Deep Web? I’m the worst Applidriver ever. Offmon deserves better than me. _[He wanted to reply to Hajime, to tell him all of these things, but even he logically knew that his thoughts weren’t producing as much as he would like them to be.

“I’m sorry Hajime-kun,” was all Yuujin managed to say even as his eyes began to water.

Hajime blinked, looking lost. “For what, Yuujin-san?”

“I know that logically, you’re right,” Yuujin admitted. “If I think about the logic of everything that you’re saying, it makes sense. But somehow believing all of that right now is hard. I’m sorry. I want to agree and say everything you’re saying is right. I know my thoughts right now aren’t productive, but I don’t know how to push logic onto them right now. I’m sorry. I wish I could force myself to believe things I know are true.” He wasn’t even sure if his words made any sense, but he wanted to try and explain some of what he was feeling at least.

“We’re allowed to think things that don’t always make a lot of sense,” Ai’s soft voice interrupted their conversation and Yuujin looked to see her holding a tray with tea and snacks which she brought over to the two of them. “You know, Hajime-kun is technically right with his words, but your brain doesn’t know how to accept those facts right now because it’s riddled with emotions, isn’t it?”

Yuujin stared at Ai for a moment, having to wonder if she was some sort of mind-reader because she seemed to put words into what he was thinking and it made sense. He nodded. “Yeah. Because if we’re talking about facts, it’s also a fact that I hurt Haru back then. I made a building collapse onto him. I mocked him for being a protagonist when he was already so beaten down from my betrayal.Those are real facts too. Those things did happen and I was the one who did those things.” His voice cracked as he said that, tears cascading down his cheeks as he spoke these words. The memories flashed before his eyes as if this had all happened only yesterday. “I know I’m not that person anymore. I’ve grown from that, but I did those things in the Deep Web so going back there makes everything feel as if the wounds are fresh again.”

Ai sat down beside Yuujin, glancing at Hajime who nodded and the two of them hugged Yuujin from either side, sandwiching him between them. Yuujin didn’t mind though, because their hug was warm, something he desperately craved. Goosebumps had begun to fill his arm, an involuntary shiver running through him at the darkest memories in his life.

“You’re right, Yuujin-kun,” Ai said softly, voice gentle but surprisingly firm. “Hajime-kun’s logic won’t change those facts either but if you want to really talk about facts, shouldn’t you talk about all the facts then? You hurt Haru-kun, you can’t change that fact. But at the same time, you also can’t change the fact that you gave your own life to save him, not to mention the whole world. You can’t change any of your actions, Yuujin-kun, the good or the bad. They’re both a part of you.”

Yuujin went quiet at that, wiping away his tears. “Ai-chan…” He knew it was his will to break free because he loved Haru. He was the most important person in the world to him. If it weren’t for Haru, he wouldn’t have evolved past his initial purpose and grown to care for any of them as much as he did now. “I’m sorry. It’s just every time I feel like I’ve taken one step forward, yet I feel like I’m pushed two steps back.”

“Yuujin-san,” Hajime said softly. “I still have nightmares about Biomon, you know. Maybe not as much as I used to but there are still times I’ll wake up in the middle of the night, feeling as if…” His voice cracked and he pulled away momentarily, visibly shivering at the reminder. “Feeling as if there are needles prickling all over my body and it still hurts as if the experimenting is happening right there and then. I still can’t go to hospitals or watch someone with tubes attached to them because it makes me sweat and start shivering. There’s no set time to recover from trauma, Yuujin-san. You’ve come so far but it’s okay to still have triggers too.”

Yuujin felt his heart crack when Hajime admitted that he still had nightmares from what he had been through with Biomon. His friend didn’t deserve that. He was always so kind to everyone but then again, he supposed Hajime, Haru and the others felt a similar way towards him too. “Yeah. Yeah, I suppose you’re right, Hajime-kun.” He reached out to take Hajime’s hand when he pulled away but leaned in closer to Ai, resting his head against her shoulder, suddenly aware of how close he was to his childhood friend and for some reason that made his heart begin to race. As his eyes locked with her beautiful lavender ones, he felt as if he could look into them forever. He didn’t want this moment to end. He could feel his cheeks heating up. He had always thought Ai was pretty, her beautiful blonde waves falling against her shoulders. Her smile could light up the darkest depths of his heart, no matter how strong the darkness was.

“Yuujin-kun,” Her soft, sweet slowly brought him out of his trance as he realised, he had been staring at his friend. “Are you feeling better now?”

Yuujin tried to remember how to form sentences when she asked him that. “I better um yeah, you’re pretty.” The words came out a jumbled mess and he was sure his face was burning hot right now. Somehow, any form of programming did not have instructions to deal with how to form words when one started to find their childhood friend attractive.

Hajime started giggling which made Yuujin go even redder. _Is that what Haru felt when he realised, he felt something different from Rei? Ai-chan and I have been together since she…since we were both eight years old after all and she was always a cute kid, but this was different. What are these feelings? I don’t understand, they’re almost a puzzle to me._

“I um…” Ai had gone as pink as the dress she usually wore and was staring at him in slightly stunned surprise as well, somehow unsure of what she wanted to say. “T-thank you.”

Well, that was a better response than Yuujin was expecting from his jumbled mess that he had spouted out without really thinking it through. He pulled away from her slightly, reaching out to take a biscuit, taking a bite out of it, his mind whirling. Somehow, whilst his self-loathing thoughts were a lot less productive than this, at least he understood where they were coming from and why he felt like that. But these thoughts were puzzling and were something he had never experienced before. Should he ask Haru? Maybe his best friend had more of an answer to his dilemma. Suddenly facing the Deep Web didn’t feel so scary anymore.


	9. In This Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haru and his friends head to the Deep Web, realising they will have to come to a decision on the best way to help with building the Appmon Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! First off, I am so so sorry about how long this has taken. Life got busy - and my grandmother passed away recently. I'm not sure how good this chapter is - I'm not personally happy with it because it felt more filler than anything but I hope you all enjoy. Thanks to my lovely beta 'Crystal_leris' for helping me out.

  1. ** In This Together**

Offmon wanted to be the supportive partner but if he was honest, this project was a daunting one especially because there had never been a school for Appmon before and he wasn’t sure what the Appmon thought of him after everything that had happened with Yuujin. He slunk down a little in his sleeves at the thought of the other Appmon hating him for being so useless.

“Offmon, are you alright?” Haru’s voice cut into his thoughts and causing him to jump because he had not realised that anyone was watching him.

“I’m just a little nervous, offu,” Offmon admitted. “What if the other Appmon don’t want me to help out?”

“I’ll give them an explosive punch if they don’t, wasu!” Dokamon said fiercely. “Offmon helped save everything just as much as we did because he gave us time to get back to our Buddies.”

Eri nodded. “Doka-chan is right, Offmon. If anyone even tries to bully you, Doka-chan and I will take care of them.”

Offmon smiled a bit, glad to see his friends had his back even though he didn’t want anyone to get into a fight because of him and he was sure Yuujin felt the same.

“I totally feel that, Eri,” Astra said beaming. “I totally wouldn’t feel anyone who bullied Offmon for anything back then.”

Haru smiled, his expression filled with warmth like it always and it was that smile that made Offmon feel at ease. It felt like everything would be alright as long as Haru was there like even if things went wrong they would be able to manage it, somehow.

“Offmon, it’ll be alright,” Haru said softly. “It’s okay to be nervous or even scared. We haven’t been back to the Deep Web in a while even if we have been monitoring it from a distance for 10 whole years. I’m scared too. Scared on how things will go but we won’t know until we take a leap of faith and try our best in what we do right? Offmon, you have a lot of courage, not from now but since the moment you decided to stay back to give us a chance to save Yuujin. It’s going to be okay; I promise.”

Offmon nodded. “Okay, offu, I hope so.”

* * *

It took a bit but finally, Rei was able to access a portal to the Deep Web, the surroundings of the beach the group was standing on beginning to fade from their surroundings, new scenery beginning to take its place. A vast forest appeared before their eyes; lush green trees inched close in proximity so that nothing could be seen but greenery in front of them right now for miles. The ground was steady and smooth, making it an easy trekking path to walk on, which was handy because it was clear this was not the place the school was going to be built on

The group of friends walked for a little bit before they came to an empty place where a couple of Appmon were working but the place was a vast open space filled fresh soil that was still wet to touch from how it just looked. Astra, being the type of person, he was leaned down to touch it.

“This is so cool!” Astra said, excitement bubbling in his voice. He couldn’t help it, because what they had seen last time of the Deep Web, this was the complete opposite of that in multiple ways. It almost felt like their own world when people built new projects and stuff, that was cool and he could feel that.

“Glad you approve,” MCmon said smiling as he came forward. "Everyone's working hard."

Haru looked around, eyes shining as he clasped his hands together. He could see how much effort they were all putting in, even if they hadn’t laid down more than two bricks yet. “You’ve all been working on this for a while, haven’t you?”

“We have, indeed,” Tutomon said, also coming to join them as well. “But it hasn’t been easy since it’s mostly been MCmon, myself and Remedimon working on it. Other Appmon sometimes come in to help out but this is a major project.”

“Course,” Gatchmon said. “A project like this needs constant monitoring and supplies after all since it’s not going to be a small place.”

“It will also take planning,” Hackmon added. “Since whilst we can help in running the Appmon Academy, it’s building the place that will require a lot more effort than what we can give right now on our own.”

Remedimon also came to join them. She had the appearance of a robotic nurse, with a thin pencil behind her ear and square-rimmed glasses around her face. "Indeed." She looked around, her face growing a little puzzled. "Yuujin didn’t come with you guys?”

Haru managed a smile although his expression faltered slightly. "Yuujin has grown a lot but facing this place after everything that happened is still a little tough for him. He’s supportive of this whole idea though.”

Remedimon smiled a bit. “I can understand that. Yuujin will definitely be able to come here soon then.” Her voice was soft but filled with a lot of confidence. She looked around to the others, seeing Eri’s expression looking genuinely puzzled. “Eri, you seem confused.”

“I don’t get it,” Eri said, forehead crinkled and her eyebrows furrowed. “The Appmon Academy won’t only be beneficial to you, it’ll be beneficial to all Appmon and help them grow, so why won’t the others put in the effort for it too? Do I need to give them an explosive kick to get their hard-drives into gear?”

“You can’t force others to put in an effort for something they’re not passionate about,” Rei said dryly, expression thoughtful. “If they see a benefit in it, they’ll come around themselves.”

“That almost sounds like giving up Rei,” Eri said, a fierceness to her tone that was quite common. “Don’t you think we should at least try to reason with them since this is for their future?”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t try,” Rei said with a small shrug of his shoulders. “But wasting time to try and convince them whilst we could be putting in our efforts to help them build the Appmon Academy is fruitless. It’s best to be prepared for the worst outcome.”

Astra looked like he was about to agree with Eri but Rei also had a point so he stopped and turned to Haru. “Haru, what do you think? I mean, I kinda feel Eri a bit more that we should try.”

Haru blinked at his friend. “Rei-kun isn’t stopping us from trying to convince other Appmon to help out though. He’s just saying we’re not all needed to do that and well, I do want to try and convince the Appmon to help us because we don’t know the outcome until we try it but at the same time, I think we should get started with helping first.” His eyes locked with Rei’s for a moment and the other nodded in agreement.

“It would encourage other Appmon more to help out if they see what we’re doing rather than giving them pretty speeches or something,” Rei finished Haru’s thought, admittedly a lot more bluntly than he would have said it but that was okay, it was just the way his boyfriend was.

Eri sighed. “Well, as rude as Rei was about that, I guess you guys do have a point.” She knew she could still get a little too passionate at times but it was something that was not within her control especially because right now, it felt like the other Appmon were being lazy when this was something that would benefit the Deep Web as a whole.

Dokamon grinned. “Don’t worry Eri-chan, I’ll punch them for you if they keep being lazy, wasu!”

Astra nodded. “Yeah, I guess I kinda feel the whole show not tell jazz that you guys are talking about too.”

“We’ll totally make all the Appmon dance to our beat, won’t we Astra?” Musimon said encouragingly.

“Will we?” Astra said, grinning again.

“Or will we not?” Musimon continued.

“We totally will!” They said together.

“Thank you so much, brother!” MCmon said happily. “With your help, things will be done in no time and maybe it will encourage others to help us.”

Haru and Rei’s plan somewhat worked even if it wasn’t to a large extent but one or two Appmon did come and offer to help with what the group was trying to do, but due to less of them in numbers, even with their different skills, the most they could do was get someone to start building a wall.

“I totally don’t feel how long this is going to take,” Astra said groaning as he sunk to the floor.

“This is way too much work,” Musimon agreed as well.

“Come on guys,” Haru tried to encourage them, sitting beside them wiping the bead of sweat from his forehead. “We’re building something from scratch but think of all the Appmon that will benefit from this.”

“Yeah, but Haru we have lives back home too and I’m finally on my way to fulfilling my dream full force,” Astra said, scratching his head. “Like I want to spend my time here and help as much as I can but I don’t feel it’ll happen in a day you know.”

“Tora has a point,” Eri said, also coming to the join them. “I signed a contract to work for Starlight, one of the best International companies for singers so I can move from being an idol into my singing career. It’s hard enough to find breathing room just being an idol but becoming a part of a company like that. I want to help and I’ll try to take time out from work when I can, but I just don’t know how much.”

“If you don’t have the time, then don’t commit,” Rei said also coming to join them, although he didn’t even have a single bead of exhaustion on him. “Just come and help out whenever you can.”

“But this project is important for the Deep Web,” Astra said frowning. “I just wish there was a way to do all of this quicker.”

“There is,” Gatchmon said, stopping what he was doing as the other Appmon gathered next to him as well.

“What do you mean, Gatchmon?” Haru said although he felt he had a pretty decent idea.

Gatchmon sighed. “It’s not going to be an easy decision but Astra’s right. This project is important for the Deep Web and for the Appmon that live here. So maybe us Appmon could stay back here and help out with the project and you guys can come help out whenever you find the time.”

“But that means we’d have to spend time apart from our Buddies, wasu,” Dokamon pointed out to Gatchmon. “I don’t want to stay away from Eri-chan at all, wasu.” His eyes began watering just at the thought of it.

Gatchmon’s expression faltered a bit. “Yeah, I know. I don’t want that either. But…” He locked eyes with Haru, trailing off. “It’s not like we can’t visit or anything right? It’s just for some time until we have more Appmon helping us out in the project. Which could be sooner than all of us think, even!” He didn’t sound very certain about that, not as much as he wanted to, which wasn’t helpful. If he couldn’t sound confident or certain, how was he supposed to reassure Haru or anyone else?

Offmon looked a little hesitant at that. “I don’t want to make that decision without talking to Yuujin, offu.”

Musimon’s ears were drooped downwards. “I don’t know if I can continue my playlist without Astra either.”

Hackmon looked at Rei, expression serious. “Rei.”

Rei’s expression was closed off and he didn’t speak at first, as if processing everything that Gatchmon had said. After a few seconds of silence though, he turned to Haru. “Haru, what do you think about this?”

Haru bit his lower lip. He knew this wasn’t a permanent goodbye, but they had never really been without their Buddies for too long in the real world so even a small separation might be hard. A small part of him didn’t want to go with that option but he knew that was selfish to hold their Buddies back from wanting to do this for their world, their home especially when he knew this was not going to be permanent.

“I think,” Haru said softly. “We should discuss our options. After all, Yuujin isn’t ready to come to the Deep Web and with everyone’s busy schedules, there’s no telling how often we’ll be able to visit. We need to think it over more.

Gatchmon nodded. “I think that’s a good idea, Haru.” He smiled.

Haru smiled at his Buddy before his eyes travelled to the others. He saw the same uncertainty he felt reflected in Astra and Eri’s eyes but Rei had a deadpanned expression on his face. “Is that okay, you guys?”

Astra and Eri’s expressions firmed and they nodded.

Rei glanced at Hackmon, before looking back at Haru, giving a subtle nod as well.

“We can manage things here whilst all of you come to that decision,” Tutomon said, having overheard their conversation and come over. “Please take your time with it and we’ll keep trying to get other Appmon to come in and help out with this project until you do.”

Haru smiled at Tutomon. “Thank you. But we’ll finish off what we’re doing today at the very least before we head back.”

Tutomon nodded. “Sounds good then.”


	10. A Matter of Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group of Applidrivers find the most practical way to assist the Deep Web.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! How are you? I finally have the 10th chapter here and I have more good news ^^ I have finished writing the first draft so updates will be biweekly so every second Friday. I would like to thank 'WhiteEevee' and 'Crystal_leris' for betareading this chapter for me and I hope you enjoy.

  1. A Matter of Perspective

The others had returned an hour ago and the group gathered at the bookshop to discuss what happened in the Deep Web.

“Staying in the Deep Web for an extended period of time?” Yuujin asked, face appearing puzzled at the thought. It had gotten dark, but they all sat in a circle in the basement so the Appmon could be Appliarised, making it easier for all of them to talk.

“It wouldn’t be permanent, of course,” Haru quickly tried to assure his friends. “Just until this project is completed, and, since we can travel between the worlds easily, it might not even feel like we’re separated.”

Yuujin frowned. Haru sounded like he was trying a little too hard to sound hopeful about this. He pulled Offmon close to him, thinking hard. A part of him knew this was wrong, but the Deep Web should be able to handle their projects themselves. Offmon hadn't been back there in months, after all. Were his friends also in the same boat of conflicting thoughts as he was, unsure of what decision to make? Rei was quiet and didn’t give his usual logical input while Haru was trying a little too hard to sound optimistic. Astra hugged Musimon tightly, muttering about how he totally didn’t feel any of this. Eri bit her lip and fidgeted constantly but didn’t speak. Hajime had placed a hand on Rei’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Ai watched everyone with a thoughtful expression. She turned to Gatchmon, finally making a decision to speak up.

“I think the most important thing here,” Ai said softly, gaining the group’s attention. “is what you guys want as well as what's required. It may be practical to stay there to help set up this project as its being constructed but have you thought of how to run a whole Academy and the roles everyone will take there. For example, even if you did decide to stay there until the project was completed, how useful would your skillset be? How much can you actually help?”

“What do you mean, offu?” Offmon said, hugging Yuujin back just as tightly.

“I think what Ai-san means to say is,” Hajime said softly, looking around the room at the various Appmon. “will you really be needed every second to help with this project? Is staying there permanently necessary or can something else be worked out?”

Gatchmon put a claw to his chin, going quiet for a moment. “Well, I can search out a lot of things we’d need and Hackmon could hack out the information that I can’t find. I guess I might not need to be there all the time for that.” He looked down, beginning to pace back and forth, his voice thoughtful. "I don't want to stay there for days or weeks on end if I can somehow help out without always being in the Deep Web."

“But how do we work with that?” Rei asked, talking out loud mostly to himself. “If we could find a method of us monitoring the Deep Web from here, it would provide more clarity. We can open a portal for them from the real world so they can provide their services, whenever needed.”<strike></strike>

At those words, Haru’s expression morphed into something a little less forced and a lot more genuine, forehead scrunching up, hope in his voice. “Is that possible?”

Hajime blinked, expression brightening somewhat at the idea. “I’m sure we can find a way to arrange it. It shouldn’t be too much of a challenge to set up a constant communication between both the worlds.”

“It’s a good way to manage our time wisely too,” Hackmon pointed out. “I mean, there is clearly no point in us staying there for the whole time if we are not needed.

Rei nodded. “Good point.”

“I feel that!” Astra burst out; tone filled with joy. He didn’t want to say goodbye to Musimon for such a long time anyway. “That means our Buddies can stay with us for the most part, right? Until they really have to go or something I mean.”

“That does seem more logical anyway,” Haru agreed softly. “I want Gatchmon and the others to give their all in this project and if this helps, it’s a benefit to all of us right? It’s a win-win situation.”

Eri sighed, her expression softening as well. “Thank goodness for that, I didn’t want to be selfish and wanted to give myself an explosive punch for my selfish thoughts.”

“I like that idea better too,” Yuujin chimed in.

Haru looked much more relaxed now, and Yuujin was glad. Haru liked to put his friends and their needs before what was best for him; Yuujin could tell Haru’s heart wasn’t in being separated from Gatchmon, but he was still willing to do it for their sake.

Yuujin hugged Offmon closer too. “I don’t want to be separated from you for long.”

“I didn’t want that either, offu,” Offmon said. “Remedimon was worried about that too. She worries for you a lot and she doesn’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay with the others in the Deep Web anyway. Not when you’re not ready to go there yet, offu.”

Yuujin blinked at that. “Was Remedimon asking about me?”

Offmon smiled. “She wasn’t too surprised at you not being there, offu. She said trauma can take a long time to heal but, given how much she’s seen you, she knows one day, you’ll be able to come to the Deep Web with a smile.”

Yuujin's heart lifted a bit at that. If Remedimon believed that and wasn't surprised at him not being able to face the Deep Web yet, then maybe one day, her words would ring true. He’d be able to face that place with a smile, one day. Speaking of Remedimon though, a light bulb went off in his head. Their Buddies weren’t the only Appmon that they had or their only helpful allies. They had other Appmon, like the former 7-codes Appmon and other ones that they had freed from the L-virus in the first adventure who had been a huge help to them in other battles like Messemon or Puzzlemon.

"Haru!" Yuujin said suddenly. "We don't just have our Buddies. We have other Appmon too." He realised he had exclaimed out loud rather abruptly and his face turned a little red as all eyes turned to him. “I mean, like Musclemon or Roleplaymon, they’re our friends too and they can help out, right?”

“I was thinking of that too, Yuujin,” Rei mused. “I’m not sure how much their skillsets could be used in helping out. Despite that though, they could also provide a means of communication between the two worlds since they can stay there for weeks on end if they want to, and if they’re comfortable with it.”

Haru nodded. “I think that’s a really good idea but only if Roleplaymon and the other Appmon are ok with it of course. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable since all our Appmon are too used to the real world.”

Navimon popped up in CHIP-form. “The human world is a good place, but I certainly don’t mind staying in my home country if it’s to make it flourish even more and make it more a liveable place for all Appmon. So I can definitely go, no issues with that.”

Coachmon also popped up in CHIP-form. “I would go but I want to be here to support Eri in her further endeavours since she’s entering into a new part of her life. I want to help her out as her coach, so I can’t be of help to the Deep Web right now.”

Eri beamed. “Thanks, Coach! I appreciate that and I’ll give my new career an explosive punch head-start with your support.” She frowned then before looking at her Applidrive. “But maybe one of the others can go help out with the Deep Web project.”

“I don’t mind,” Dressmon said, popping up as well. “It would be nice to help out and I want to teach other Appmon too when the Appmon Academy is finally built.”

“I want to help too,” Roleplaymon admitted, sounding a lot less confident than the other Appmon who had appeared to give their two cents. “I’m not sure how good I’ll be at it since most Appmon don’t really like my stuff.”

Haru smiled. “Don’t worry. Like I said back then, there’ll always be different kinds of opinions, but all you have to do is just try your best, ok? If you want to help, you should try, Roleplaymon. I know you’ll do a great job. And it’ll be a great help to the Appmon Academy if you help them make it even more successful. Ai-chan came up with a really good idea.” He beamed at his childhood friend.

Yuujin tilted his head to look at Ai. "It was a good idea, Ai-chan."

Ai flushed, smiling softly. “I have to do a lot of renovations in the bookshop with Dad so I have to think about these kinds of things a lot with him. I mean, it feels nice to have a lot of help but not everyone is needed to help at every second of the day because everyone has different strengths, and sometimes, people are just sitting there."

“That makes sense,” Eri agreed. “I’m glad Ai-chan offered this idea too though because I want to see the Deep Web flourish too, after all.”

"It all worked out wasu!" Dokamon said cheerfully. "And with Rei and Hajime working on it, we’ll definitely find a way for this too, wasu!”

Both brothers flushed at this, but Hajime smiled.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Hajime said softly. “But we’re going to do our best, and, it’ll be easier since some of our other Appmon are willing to go to the Deep Web. This will make it even easier for us to communicate with them as to what exactly is going on, and how far the project has gotten.”

“Oh!” Astra said suddenly. “My friend Akuma can invent things, maybe he’s got something that can help?”

“Maybe, but we can’t exactly tell him about the Deep Web, Tora,” Eri scolded him. “Or about the Appmon. We have no idea how he’d react.”

“Yeah, but he’s made all sorts of inventions, maybe we could buy something off him, and Rei and Hajime could look at that, you know?” Astra pointed out. “Like, I don’t know, modify it or something. They’re a lot smarter than I am so whatever works out best. He’s made some pretty advanced stuff and all.”

“It’s worth a try, at least,” Yuujin said softly, looking between Rei and Hajime, who seemed to be silently communicating with one another through their eyes.

"It isn't a bad idea," Hajime agreed. "But let's see how things go and if we absolutely need some sort of communication device, we can think about purchasing something from him. Does he invent things on demand as well, Astra-san?"

Astra blinked. “You mean like if you describe what you want to him?”

Hajime nodded. “Yeah, if I describe that we need something pretty advanced, without mentioning about the Appmon, would he be able to make it for us?”

“I think so,” Astra said, shrugging. “I mean, he has a full factory for his inventions and everything. People do come to make special demands sometimes, it’s what he does for work, after all. You’d need to book an appointment to talk to him about it properly, though, or I can get you one.”

Hajime smiled. “We’ll look into it, then.”


	11. This, I Promise You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! So since I'm now following a bi-weekly schedule, here is another update for you lovely peeps, exactly two weeks after the previous one. I would like to thank 'WhiteEevee' and 'Crystal_leris' for being amazing and betareading this awesome chapter that I loved writing.

  1. ** This, I Promise You**

Rei was sceptical about how much Astra’s friend could do but he supposed since this was Akuma’s business, there was no harm in discussing it with him. His forehead was wrinkled together as he tried to run it around in his head on what kind of communication device would be needed. 

“Do you think Astra’s friend will be of help, Rei?” Hackmon asked, bringing Rei out of his thoughts and back into the present situation.

“I’m not really sure at this point,” Rei admitted, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ve never spoken to someone who can invent things from base hardware and smaller objects. I can look into it. For now, let's focus on creating constant monitoring of the Deep Web whilst the others decide who’s going there to stay for a little while and who isn’t. Ai, can Hajime and I set up in the same room we did last time?”

“Yes, of course,” Ai said softly, although her expression flickered with concern. “It is getting pretty late though so maybe you guys could set that up tomorrow.”

Rei shook his head. “I work better at night anyway, I’ll be fine.” His reply was curt but he was listing the things he might need inside his mind to set up as he was already standing up.

Ai sighed. “Haru-kun, please make sure he doesn’t exhaust himself.”

Haru winked. “Of course, don’t worry. I’ll make sure he eats and sleeps like a healthy person, ne, Rei-kun?” He gave his boyfriend a knowing look as he spoke.

Rei rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. “I’m not that bad.”

Haru blinked his eyes, all wide-eyed innocence. “But you always forget to take care of yourself, Rei-kun. That’s just a fact.”

Rei felt his cheeks tinge pink, trying to hide it behind a scowl. “I eat and sleep fine, I just concentrate a lot better at night than I do early morning.” He suddenly felt something as if they were being watched and shifted in a quick movement. The flush faded from his cheeks as his gaze fixated on outside, body suddenly tensing up almost instinctively. It was pitch-black outside, a light rustling of the leaves but for a moment he had felt as if something had moved quickly in the bushes. His gaze locked onto it through the glass window.

“Rei-kun?” The teasing faded from Haru's tone immediately, twinkle disappearing, and smile dropping. “Is everything ok?”

Rei looked at his boyfriend when he spoke before his gaze returned to looking outside, not feeling anything anymore. This caused his brow to furrow. Had that been his imagination or had someone actually been out there? _Maybe I am tired and am seeing things, no – it’s not late enough for me to feel tired and someone was definitely there but who? And why would someone be watching us, especially this late at night?_

“Rei-kun,” Haru said again and this time, his tone was no longer questioning, but a little puzzled. “Is everything ok?”

"I'm not sure," Rei admitted, which was the truth. "I thought I felt a presence, as if someone were watching us through the window but, I don’t feel it anymore.”

“Rei, I think Ai’s right, you’re definitely tired,” Astra said frowning. “Maybe you should call it a night and start up early tomorrow.”

Rei scowled at Astra for that. “I’m not that tired.”

“Well, stalkers do exist a lot in the idol industry,” Eri said frowning. “But they normally don’t stalk groups of people, only individuals so it still doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

“Rei-kun doesn’t make things up though,” Haru said softly. “And I trust his gut feeling. Gatchmon, can you search to see if anyone was there?”

Gatchmon nodded. “Sure, I’ll do that.” He zapped back into CHIP-form and floated outside, taking out his magnifying glass and searching.

Rei sent a small smile towards Haru for trusting his instincts even when he wasn’t sure of them himself and looking into it anyway. It was better to be safe than sorry even if he did get paranoid sometimes.

Gatchmon floated back inside. “Whoever it was isn’t there anymore.”

“So, there was really someone there?” Astra said, looking surprised. “Looks like you weren’t all that paranoid after all, Rei.”

“There was someone there, but, they’re not there anymore,” Gatchmon confirmed, nodding to that.

Rei had to wonder who it could be, but he frowned a bit as he saw Eri’s face turn pale when Gatchmon mentioned that but decided not to ask. She looked terrified enough without him being too intrusive and he knew some things were better off not to be talked about because they were much too personal.

* * *

Eri could feel every bone in her body tense when Gatchmon mentioned that someone had been there, her thoughts drifting to the young male who had been getting a little too close for comfort the other day. A shiver ran down her spine.

“Eri-san, are you alright?” Ai asked, noticing how tense she had gotten.

“There was a weirdo bothering Eri-chan the other day after work, wasu,” Dokamon said thoughtfully.

“D-Doka-chan!” Eri called out. “It’s nothing, Ai-chan, it’s just…” She trailed off, not even sure how to begin explaining to her friends, because, this was the kind of thing she never talked to them about. This was the sort of thing she didn’t want to talk to them about because it made her feel physically ill to explain how some people – if not, most males who had anything to do with the industry - viewed her. She didn’t want her friends knowing any part of that. She didn’t want to see their gazes filled with disgust when they looked at her.

_His name had been Hideki…the drunk guy from the other night. He had left her several letters too but every time she tried to talk to someone about him, the letters would mysteriously vanish. The last letter was framed clearly in her mind even today._

_‘I want to get closer to you, Eri-sama. I want to caress every inch of your beautiful body, run my lips down your neck. I want all of you to belong to me. I will get closer, Eri-sama. One day, we’ll be together.’_

“Eri-san.”

Haru’s hand on her shoulder snapped Eri out of her thoughts and she looked at the worry in his eyes as he looked at her. She could feel him wanting to ask but she knew he wouldn’t because that wasn’t like Haru. That wasn’t something he did. He would want to show her he was there but he wouldn’t force her to talk about it. Astra, however, did not have nearly as much tact when it came to reading the mood.

“Eri, you okay?” Astra asked, blinking. “You don’t look so good, are you feeling sick? What’s Dokamon talking about? Did someone hurt you or something?”

Normally, Eri loved Astra’s flamboyant and loud personality because it cheered her up and brought a smile to her face even when she felt like crashing to the ground. Right now, however, it made her want to sink deeper into the ground. She felt as if something filthy was crawling up her arms, a feeling she couldn’t push away no matter how much she wanted. She opened her mouth to reply, to say nothing was wrong and Dokamon just talked too much sometimes, but she choked on her words, unable to bring them to her lips, She could not breathe, feeling as if she was choking on air as her heart raced.

“Drop it, Astra,” Rei said in his usual blunt way, not as cold as he used to be but a harsh glare still on his face as he looked at the younger man. “It’s none of our concern the details behind whoever was stalking the group. They’re gone now so I think we can end it there.”

“Dude, you’re still way too cold,” Astra groaned, looking a little agitated by this. But he glanced at Eri again. “Hey, sorry if I said something tactless, I totally don’t feel it, but you know we’re all here for you right? If you ever want to talk about something, I mean, we’re all here.”

Eri still couldn’t speak but did manage to nod at that, looking down at the floor as Haru squeezed her shoulder again. His presence was comforting for her, like a form of shelter that was silently watching over her and she didn’t have the words to tell him how much that meant right now.

“Eri-san understands we’re all here, Astra-kun,” Haru said softly. “You don’t need to remind her of that, I promise. But sometimes, words are really hard and its not always easy to explain things.”

“Besides,” Yuujin added, “the good thing is that person is definitely gone, right?” He looked to Gatchmon who confirmed this with a nod. “Then we don’t really need to worry about it, and we can get back to what we were focusing on before.”

Astra nodded. “Okay yeah, I guess that’s okay then. Sorry Eri.” He glanced at her but Eri shook her head.

"No," Eri finally managed to say. "Don't apologise Tora." She wanted to tell him it wasn't his fault and that she wasn't someone worth worrying about – that she had chosen this path for herself and the consequences that came with it. She felt Haru's grip tighten on her shoulder as if he knew what she was thinking right now but he didn't speak. Haru's ability to sense what the other person needed was more helpful to her right now than she could admit. She refocused her attention on Rei and Hajime, wanting to distract herself from her thoughts.

“Alright,” Rei said quietly. “I’ll set up the main computer room and see how I can get us started. It should give an idea of what’s needed. If we don’t have everything, in that case, Astra, you’ll need to contact your friend. We can purchase whatever we need, only what we strictly need and no more than that.” He got up, motioning for Hajime to join him which he did almost immediately.

Haru didn’t immediately follow even as the others did so and neither did Yuujin.

“Haru?” Yuujin said. “Are you coming?”

Eri knew Yuujin was waiting on Haru, but the other didn’t want to leave her side. He was waiting on her and she knew he wouldn’t leave her side for as long as she needed him. She would join the others but wanted some time to compose herself before joining her friends. She kept her gaze focused on the ground, so she was only able to hear their voices.

“I’ll be right there. Go on ahead without me, ok?” Haru said softly to his friend.

Eri didn’t know what Yuujin said next, but she guessed he must have left because when she felt the silent squeeze again, she looked up to see that Haru was the only person left in the room. He watched her closely but didn’t speak.

“I’m alright,” Eri said softly. “I promise, I just need a minute and I’ll come join the rest of you.”

“Eri-chan,” Dokamon said frowning. “You don’t have to face things alone, wasu.”

“Eri-san,” Haru said quietly. “I know I can’t understand the depth of your feelings or completely understand your experience, but I know one thing for sure. Eri-san became an idol when we were children to bring a smile <strike>on</strike>to the face of other people and her only intention was to make people happy, nothing else. I know that, I believe that and that’s what I’ll always believe no matter what anyone else thinks or says.” He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “I know you, Eri-san.”

Eri felt her eyes water at that, not at Haru's words but the confidence in his voice when he spoke them, and she knew he couldn’t lie at all; he struggled to even give a compliment he didn’t believe in strongly even to keep up appearances. The fact that he believed and understood her true intentions made the filth she felt previously crawl away from their hug. It didn’t stain Haru, it always seemed to shy away from him whenever he came close and she had always thought it was just because Haru was too pure to be tainted. Now, for the first time though, she was beginning to think that maybe it was because Haru knew her true self. The person she wanted to be, not what everyone thought of her to be and he saw that, so her stains didn’t exist when he was with her because he didn’t see her in that way.

"Haru?" Eri whispered.

“Yeah?” Haru said, careful to match her tone of voice.

“Thank you for being here,” Eri said softly. She wanted to say more. She wanted to say so much more but couldn’t seem to find the words to do so. Every time she tried, her words would choke inside her mouth, unable to get out.

Haru squeezed her tighter and smiled, shaking his head. He didn’t reply, but he didn’t need to. His presence, his comfort, and his unconditional support were more than enough for her. Even if the world saw her as an object, as long as those close to her knew the real her, she’d face it somehow.


	12. True Essentials

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra and Hajime work together, with some help from Rei and Akuma to find a device that best suits their needs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. It's nice to be able to follow a set schedule since I have the story written out. Admittedly, this chapter is a little bit filler but well...apparently slice of life has a lot of that little thing called build-up.

  1. ** True Essentials **

The next day, Hajime and Astra decided to head to Akuma’s main factory which was mainly just a small building with a couple of rooms. Akuma had guided them to one of them which had different inventions for communication purposes as Hajime had given him a brief of what they needed. As they entered the room, Hajime could not help but be impressed at all the numerous gadgets in the room. This kind of thing had to take a lot of time and dedication to make so many original inventions. Haru, Rei, and Eri all had work, Yuujin had university, and Ai wanted to send her latest draft of her novel to an editor so she was unable to come along. Hajime decided he would come so he could explain things to his brother later and they could work something out.

“Oi, Akuma!” Astra called out. “Are you in here?” He and Hajime were in the room after all, but he didn’t see Akuma anywhere.

Akuma popped his head out from behind a huge machine, which had spinning gears moving inside of it. "Oh hey, I didn't expect you two to come in so early." He stood up. "So what can I do for you?”

“We need a special type of invention,” Hajime said softly. “A communication device of some sort that allows us to communicate with some friends of ours.”

Akuma looked thoughtful. “I see. What type of communication? I have a device that can allow you to contact any travellers that are going up into space. Otherwise, since you’re Astra-kun’s friend, I could probably invent something specific to cater to your needs, but you’d have to describe what exactly you need.”

Hajime nodded. “Can I take a look at the communication device that can be used to contact into space?”

“Sure,” Akuma replied easily. “Follow me, you two.”

Hajime exchanged a look with Astra and they both nodded, following after Akuma to the far end of the room where he had an odd-looking silver trinket device which was just sitting there. 

“So what does this do?” Hajime asked, examining it, not wanting to touch it if he wasn’t going to purchase it.

“This sends communication signals to the satellite to create a connection between Earth and space,” Akuma explained. “I’ve sold hundreds of these devices to people and haven’t gotten a single complaint in yet, so it definitely does its job. But if it isn’t useful for you, like I said, I can make something special.”

Hajime looked thoughtful, expression furrowed over as his expression wrinkled in concentration.

“Hajime, you ok, dude?” Astra asked and Hajime blinked, realising that Akuma had returned to his work and was giving them their space to come to the decision.

“I don’t know,” Hajime admitted. “I really don’t want to make a decision that makes things even worse for us or wastes any time given how important this is to the Appmon.”

Astra scratched his head. “Dude, you’re one of the smartest people I know, so I don’t really know if I can help all that much, but why don’t you talk through the ideas running inside your head with me? I mean, maybe I could help you bounce them around? You know, like Ai does with her story ideas when she’s talking with Haru and all? I totally feel how much that works!”

Hajime nodded. “Well, I’m not sure if modifying this device to communicate to the Deep Web instead of space will necessarily be effective? Like maybe it will be, so I could be worrying for nothing, but if it isn’t, we’ll have wasted time and money for nothing and the device is useless for us. If we do need something specific, wouldn’t it better to just ask Akuma-san to invent something specific for us, instead of trying something that might not work? It’s not like we can borrow the device and give it back because then Akuma-san wouldn’t be able to resell this product and it’s a loss for him, so I don’t know what we should do.” He had been speaking fast, a regular habit of his and found himself out of breath, having to stop himself to relax for a moment.

Astra listened to this, forehead crinkling in thought. “I don’t know about this tech stuff as much as you do, but I could always ask Akuma if we could borrow it? He won’t mind, he’s my friend and he’ll understand, or well…why don’t you text Rei or something and we can come back in a little while to make a decision? I mean, Rei might be able to help you make that decision on what saves more time, I kind of feel that actually. It’s not like we have to buy it now, right? I could ask Akuma to hold onto it if you’re that worried about it being a loss to him.”

Hajime thought about that and had to admit that Astra’s idea held merit. And he knew his brother could take a few minutes out from the restaurant to talk to him about this because it was important to Hackmon too. “Is it ok if you ask Akuma-san to hold onto the product for a few hours?”

Astra grinned. “Course I can! Friends get benefits anyway!”

Hajime laughed a little, but he was glad he had discussed this kind of thing with his friend because decisions were not his strong point. “Thanks, Astra-san.”

Astra tousled Hajime’s hair, pulling his hand away and grinning before the other could glare at him. “It’s cool. Don’t worry so much, ok? We’re in this together, dude.”

Hajime beamed. “I forget that sometimes, but that’s okay. I’ll text Oniichan then.”

Astra nodded. “Yeah, I feel that and I’ll talk to Akuma to hold onto that product for us.”

Hajime nodded, taking out his phone and beginning to type a text message to his brother, hoping he would be able to take some time out from work to talk to him. He knew his brother would understand the urgency of this matter though because he definitely couldn’t make this decision on his own.

* * *

Rei had a pretty slow day working at the restaurant, which was nice compared to days where there was a constant flux of customers. He enjoyed the cooking part of his job more than anything, but the serving of customers and dealing with how annoying some people could be were things he could do without.

“Easy day today, isn’t it?” his co-worker Hibiki said, coming into the kitchen where he was putting the empty pots into the sink.

“Yeah, it’s a nice change of pace,” Rei commented, looking at her, glad that they still had a somewhat cordial relationship. Especially if he thought about when she used to crush on him a couple of years ago, before he had realised his feelings for Haru. That had been strange. Romance in general was strange, but with Haru, it was different. Special. He didn’t have to follow expectations when he was with his boyfriend.

_It still puzzles me how anyone could date someone who they don’t have a close connection with – someone they just met or haven’t known for long. Haru and I were friends for 10 whole years before we took our relationship a step further._

“Rei-san?” Hibiki’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “Your phone was beeping.”

Rei blinked, looking down and seeing a text message from Hajime, asking him if he could take some time out from work to talk to him. He frowned. His little brother never asked for something like that unless it was important, and he knew Hajime had gone with Astra to visit Akuma’s factory, so it probably was important.

“Hibiki, can you cover me?” Rei asked his colleague. “I just need to quickly talk to my little brother.”

Hibiki smiled. “Of course, it’s not exactly rush hour or anything, so it should be fine.”

Rei nodded, taking off his apron and heading outside to make a call. His brother picked it up within a few rings. “Hajime, is everything ok?”

“Sorry to disturb you at work, Oniichan,” Hajime said softly. “I just needed your help with something, that’s all.”

“It’s alright, it’s not rush hour yet, so I had a little bit of time anyway,” Rei said, a small smile playing on his lips. “Besides, you never disturb me. What’s up?”

“Astra-san and I came to Akuma-san’s factory,” Hajime explained. “And he has a lot of different devices, but the one that interested me a little bit was a communication device that can contact travellers in space.”

Rei thought about this, mulling that around in his brain and nodding to himself, even though he knew that Hajime couldn’t see it. “Go on.”

“I was thinking if we bought that one, we could modify it to contact our friends in the Deep Web,” Hajime said softly. “But I’m not sure that’ll work, and I don’t want to buy it if it won’t, or if we need something specific. Akuma-san is willing to invent something specific for us if we describe it to him.”

Inventing something specific, as practical as it sounded, wouldn’t be so easy, given the fact that they could not reveal about the Deep Web or the Appmon, so their best bet would be to modify an already existing device.

“As nice as it sounds having Hagiwara build something specific to cater our needs, we won’t be able to accurately describe what we need to him. We can’t exactly tell him that we want to contact Artificial Intelligence in another world,” Rei said, mostly talking to himself and thinking out loud. “I feel by that logic, it would be best if we purchased the product that allows us to communicate into space. After that, we can work out a way to modify that to cater to our needs. I think you should buy that product, Hajime. With the two of us working together, I’m sure we can modify the device.”

“Okay, Oniichan,” Hajime said. “Thank you. I just wasn’t sure about it, but okay, that works. We’ll buy it, then.”

“Ok,” Rei replied. “We’ll start working on it today after I come back from work, since I don’t want us to be the reason that the Appmon Academy project is delayed.”

“It won’t be, Oniichan, don’t worry,” Hajime assured his brother. “Take care, ok?”

“You too,” Rei replied before hanging up the phone. Hopefully, that device would provide them with what they needed to help their Buddies and the Deep Web.

* * *

Being friends with someone really had its perks - Astra could totally feel that and he knew Akuma wouldn’t put an item on hold for just anyone and was only doing it because they were friends. His products sold out pretty quickly, after all, and this communication device was the last one he had left in his factory.

“Thanks again for this, Akuma,” Astra said to his friend. “Hajime just kinda needed a second opinion, ya know?”

Akuma smiled. “Your friend is very minutely considerate of small things.”

Astra scratched his head. “I didn’t get all that gibberish, but Hajime is awesome. Always caring for everyone and all.”

Akuma chuckled. “That’s exactly what I meant anyway.”

“Yeah, he likes to think about things a lot,” Astra said, nodding before glancing over to where Hajime was now talking on the phone. Rei must have had some time. That was awesome since it meant they wouldn’t have to place the item on hold after all. After a couple of seconds, Hajime hung up and came over to them, looking a lot happier than he had previously.

“I just spoke to Oniichan,” Hajime explained to them. “He thinks it’s better to buy the communication device that allows to contact people in space, because he thinks it’ll be good enough for our cause for multiple reasons. Akuma-san, how much is that communication device?”

Akuma looked thoughtful. “Since you’re a first time customer and you’re one of Astra-kun’s friends, I’ll give you a 50 % discount on the usual price and you can have all the money back if the product does not work out the way it’s supposed to. Come on, I’ll do the calculations with you guys and give you a price.” He smiled.

“You better give my friend a good price, Akuma,” Astra said, a grin on his face because he knew his friend would anyway.

“Oh, really?” Akuma teased. “Will you not feel it if I don’t?”

Astra faked a pout. “I totally wouldn’t feel it if you didn’t! Especially since Hajime is special.”

Hajime flushed at that. “Astra-san, don’t make your friend ruin his business bargains just for my sake, ok?”

Akuma laughed at that. “Don’t worry about it, Hajime-san. Astra-kun and I were just joking around. Besides, I would always give his precious friends some sort of bargain anyway.”

Hajime smiled. “Thank you, Akuma-san.”


	13. Battles Within

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into the daily struggles of the Applidrivers and the internal battles they face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone. My apologies for the delay in coming out with this chapter as I was busy with Uni and Gentron Week. But now I'm done so here I am. Thank you to 'Crystal_leris' and 'WhiteEeevee' for being amazing and betareading this for me.

**13\. Battles Within**

Patience was definitely a virtue that could sometimes be hard to believe in and this was something Eri was learning the hard way. She had been able to make it in the company of Starlight but getting actual concerts and making herself known as a singer was the hard part. Her manager, an older woman by the name of Sayori Mikoto, was really nice with encouraging her though, as she looked through her file.

“I’m sorry, Eri,” Sayori said, peering from behind her thin-rimmed glasses. “There’s definitely no time this month to fit you in. However, I have a couple of suggestions. One of my contacts does take in pre-recordings of a singing session, sending them to places higher up, and it could get recognised so we can squeeze in a place for you.”

Eri sighed when her manager mentioned they couldn’t find a place for her to have a concert because this company had a lot of singers already having events within the very month. The corners of her mouth did however lift, eyes brightening as she listened to Sayori’s next words. “Can we really do that? I want to try it. I want to put myself out there and do whatever I can to get my breakthrough as a singer.”

Success will come sooner or later. It might take longer if you do the right things and go in the correct way, but you will get it eventually.

Izumi’s words echoed in her mind and Eri knew that it might take longer, but that was okay. I’ll never throw away myself just to be successful. I want to make people smile, not sell myself on the stage.

“Alright then,” Sayori said, smiling, her bright green eyes eager to get started. “I’ll talk to my contact right now and book you in.”

“Manager Sayori,” Eri said seriously. “Can I get my pre-recording done today? I don’t mind working a little later than usual if I have to, but I really do want to get this done as soon as possible. Please.” Her fist clenched to her side. She was close, she was so close and the things she could speed up a little, she had to try at least, no matter what.

Sayori nodded. “I’ll do my best, and my friend will appreciate a girl who’s so passionate about her career.”

Eri smiled. That described her well. Her passion and the knowledge that her friends knew that the real her was someone who wanted to brighten the lives of those around her were what kept her going. People who watched her on-screen would forget their own exhaustion and brighten up. 

“Of course, I am!” Eri said proudly. “I’m working for one of the best industries there is, so I have to do my part too.”

Sayori laughed. “With your spirit, you’ll reach the top in no time. Let me just talk to my friend.” She stepped out momentarily to make a phone call.

“Eri-chan!” Dokamon said, appearing in CHIP form beside her. “This could be your big chance, wasu!”

“I hope so,” Eri said, biting her lower lip. “Getting into Starlight seemed a lot easier compared to this.” Uncertainty crept into her voice, emotions she didn’t usually show around her friends because she didn’t want them to worry about her. Her passion had not died, but she recognised the challenges a lot more than she had used to when she was younger.

“Eri-chan, what’s wrong, wasu?” Dokamon asked. “This isn’t like you.”

“No, nothing’s wrong, Doka-chan,” Eri said quickly, trying to reassure her Buddy with a smile. “It’s just a big responsibility working for a company like this, and I guess now that I’m older…it doesn’t always feel like I can explosive punch my way into things like I could as a teenager.”

“Eri-chan, it wasn’t easy back then either, though, wasu,” Dokamon pointed out. “You’ve had bigger responsibilities than just your career, like when we all worked together to try and defeat Leviathan, wasu. It was really scary back then and it was dangerous, but we managed, didn’t we, wasu? Is it a bad thing to be scared because you’re not a teenager anymore?”

Eri stared a bit as her Buddy put the feelings she was struggling to express so clearly into words. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been scared that she could lose her life when fighting Leviathan, but it was more that she didn’t feel any shame in being afraid because she was a young teenager who had been thrust into a battle which she didn’t know how things would end up. This was a similar situation, wasn’t it? It was still a battle. But instead of it being a battle against a giant monster wanting to wipe out humanity, it was a battle against herself to be the best that she could be. A battle to preserve her innocence in a world where, as Izumi-san had put it, wolves wanted to rip her apart. She wished she could push that fear aside and just tackle things head-on like she always did, but it felt like that was no longer possible.

“Thank you, Doka-chan,” Eri said softly. Maybe recognising what she was feeling didn’t solve everything, but it allowed her to put some sort of label to the constant doubts that filled her mind. 

“For what, wasu?” Dokamon asked, looking confused.

“For so long, I’ve been running from these feelings,” Eri explained. “Feelings I couldn’t understand or label at first, but you helped me realise I was scared. This isn’t a battle that could take my life, but it could take other things if I’m not careful. But I’m not a teenager anymore, so I guess feeling scared didn’t feel as natural as it did back then.”

“Everyone gets scared or anxious, wasu,” Dokamon assured. “But Eri-chan is strong and I know she’ll give all the challenges an explosive punch and come out stronger than ever in the end.” He went silent as Sayori came back inside.

“It’s your lucky day,” Sayori said with a smile. “Hiroto is willing to meet up with you and have your voice recorded at his studio so he can send it places for it to be recognised. However, there’re still two hours till then, so why don’t we grab a bite to eat in the meantime? You’ll be required a bit later to get the voice recording done, so it’s best to freshen up your mind a little bit.”

Eri’s expression lit up at the thought of being able to get it done today even if it meant going home a few hours later than she usually did. This could be the break she needed to make it as a singer in Starlight.

* * *

Ai wrung her hands nervously as she looked at her editor reading through her manuscript with a focused expression. He was one of the nicest editors as a person, but as an editor, he could be genuinely brutal sometimes. Which while it could be helpful, it did make her realise how much further she still had to go even now. After a good five minutes of tense silence, Killua Arai finally looked up at her.

“A much better manuscript for a first draft this time, Kashiki,” Killua said, tone as strict as it usually was. “However, there is too much poetic language which, while wonderful for a young adult book, is not that great for a children’s book. Children want to read simple, pretty language, not flowery poetic things that they may not even understand. I’ve circled a paragraph in red for you, though, and offered suggestions. We still have an hour left of our meeting, so I want you to rewrite that one paragraph, with your writer’s voice, but using the suggestions I have given you as well and show it to me. I want to make sure you understand my criticisms before letting you go off and do it on your own.”

Being around Killua did make Ai feel as if she were being microscopically examined with a lens and looked at in tiny detail, but it also made her feel sheltered, because, whilst her cut-throat editor could be harsh, he was always willing to mentor her quite a bit.

“Thank you so much, Killua-san,” Ai said, taking the manuscript and looking at the suggestion before going to sit outside at the table and chair there. She needed to concentrate to produce something even halfway according to those suggestions. She sighed – her mind was blanking though, and she wasn’t even sure where to really start.

_“Ai-chan, what’s the most special thing you want children to feel when you write your books?” Haru asked her, holding her manuscript as he said this._

_“I want them to feel connected to the world I’m writing in,” Ai explained. “To smile, to feel happy and want to make friends with my characters. To want to feel like they’re a part of the world that I’ve created.”_

_Haru smiled. “Then think of that, the goal you want to reach, and the ideas will flow into you naturally.”_

Haru had been the one person who was always there for her when she was having what most writers termed writer’s block. He was always giving her tips and tricks that she could use to bring herself out of it, even when it was hard, and even when her father wasn’t always supportive.

_“Ai, I know writing these books makes you happy,” Mr. Kashiki said. “But becoming well-settled in life is much more important. This isn’t a stable career. There are a lot of risks. What if you don’t do well in it? What if your books don’t do well? We have the bookshop now, but what happens when I pass away? I’m not as fit as I used to be.”_

_Ai shook her head. “Dad, please, I want to believe I can make it in my career as a children’s book author. Can you at least give me a chance to try?”_

_“You can try after you’ve gotten a stable career. Otherwise, Ai,” Mr. Kashiki said firmly, “I won’t let you throw your future away for such a gamble. It’s much too risky.”_

_Ai was about to protest again but saw Yuujin standing at the door as her father had turned his back on her and walked out of the room._

_“Ai-chan, is everything ok?” Yuujin asked, walking over and peering at her._

_Ai looked at him and realised why he was asking soon enough. Her cheeks were flushed red and tears were cascading down her cheeks even though her Dad was gone._

_“I don’t know,” was all Ai could get out. “Dad doesn’t understand me, Yuujin-kun. He’s never acted like this before. Why won’t he support my dreams instead of standing in the way of them?”_

_Yuujin pulled her into a hug. “I overheard a bit of the end of that conversation and I’m not sure, but I think your Dad is scared for you, Ai-chan. M-maybe he’s not going about it the best way, but maybe he just wants the best for you?” He sounded a little uncertain. “I mean, your Dad’s always been super supportive of everything that you do and never acted like this, so there must be another reason, right? Please don’t cry though. I hate seeing you cry.”_

_Ai wiped away her tears. “S-sorry. I’m just a little surprised, I guess. I thought Dad would be happy for me, not this.”_

_Yuujin smiled a bit. “It’ll be okay, Ai-chan. We’ll find a way to help you communicate your feelings to your Dad, I promise.”_

_Ai rested her head against Yuujin’s shoulder. “I hope so, Yuujin-kun. I really hope so.”_

Her father had become a little more supportive once she made it clear this was what she wanted to do, even though she had found a side job in the library where she would do most of her writing unless a customer needed help. It wasn’t too hard to manage both jobs because she was used to customers, having worked at the bookshop since she was younger.

But right now, she needed to focus on rewriting this paragraph, so she closed her eyes, thinking of her reasons to want to make children happy, and soon enough, the words flowed into her mind.  
\--  
Working as a researcher was a dream come true. No matter how much Haru progressed, there was always more to learn. Artificial Intelligence was not an easy topic of research, though, as there were hardly any former studies on it. Luckily, he still had a lot of Grandpa’s resources to help. He sat on his computer in his office, typing in the details of the new research product he had recently completed when he got a text message from Rei.

Astra and Hajime have gotten a communication device that we can modify to cater to our needs. Rei.

Haru smiled at the message. That was good because he didn’t want to say goodbye to Gatchmon permanently.

“You look happy, Haru,” Gatchmon commented, floating over to him in CHIP form.

“Astra-kun and Hajime-kun have been able to find a communication device that we can modify,” Haru explained in a low voice because it would look strange if people thought he was talking to himself. 

Gatchmon grinned. “Really? That’s awesome!”

Haru giggled a bit. “You didn’t want to say goodbye either, did you, Gatchmon?”

Gatchmon’s expression fell. “I was trying to stay logical about it and tell myself it wasn’t permanent, but yeah, you’re right. I didn’t wanna leave you even to go help the Deep Web and all. It was a good thing Ai-chan came up with that point.”

Haru nodded. “Yeah, I’m really glad she did too. I think it’s because she can logically think about all of this without getting too emotionally involved. Ai-chan’s always been such a good support to me, and really, all of us.”

Gatchmon smiled again. “Yeah, plus there’s no reason for all of us to go there every minute of the day if we’re not needed.”

Haru nodded, turning back to his computer. People had built different robots in the past for different uses and even things on a smaller scale. He had to wonder if even Akuma’s devices contained artificial intelligence in them, like sensing what a person needed and searching out the correct device. He knew in their smartphones, even besides the Appmon, things like Siri were considered to be A.I.

“Gatchmon!” Haru said, barely able to keep his excitement into hushed tones. “I know what I’m going to look into for my next research project.” His eyes shone and his fists were clenched as he stared at the screen.

Gatchmon floated over. “Haru, what’s gotten you so excited?”

“I’ve been looking for the right inspiration for the right project for a while,” Haru explained. “There are not many people willing to work with devices of Artificial Intelligence but things such as Apps and Siri still exists. People still use GPSes to get to places even today. I don’t have to research all of them, just pick one and do a research project on a single thing. So, I’m going to choose Siri, which is one of the simplest forms of Artificial Intelligence and do a research project on that. Maybe I’ll get some people interested in this type of research and I can work with them.”

Gatchmon blinked before laughing. “Haru, that’s a brilliant idea. It’ll keep you focused on one thing and you can go in-depth with it too.”

Haru nodded, beginning to type as he did so. “Let’s get started then.”


	14. Too Special to Be Replaced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. My loyal readers, you get a double treat and two updates this week, so two lovely chapters. Thanks a ton to WhiteEevee and the wonderful Crystalleris for betareading this and making it truly wonderful.

**14\. Too Special to Be Replaced**

Getting the device had been the easiest part. It was a good thing that Ai had allowed them to use the basement of her bookshop as headquarters still, because this would take a while to set up.

“Should we wait for Rei before working on this?” Astra asked as he watched Hajime type numerous codes into the giant screen.

“I’m just analysing the microscopic details of everything till Oniichan takes a look and we can figure out how to modify it,” Hajime explained, concentrating hard on the computer screen before realising something and looking up. “Astra-san, you’ve been with me all day, aren’t you tired?”

Astra smiled. “Nah, I don’t feel tired at all, actually! Hanging out with you is really fun and cool, plus I work from home anyway making videos.”

Hajime flushed a bit at that, momentarily startled out of his zone when Astra said hanging out with him was fun. He wondered if his friend was just being kind. Of course, he always enjoyed spending time with Astra but that was because he was fun. He always had something exciting to do or showed him really fun Apptube videos even if they weren’t his own. But him – what exactly was fun with hanging out with an asocial nerd like him? 

“Hajime, you ok dude?” Astra asked, snapping a finger in front of his face. “You kinda spaced out there, you know, like you did back at the Live Launch.”

“He notices things about you.” Yuujin had said that back when Hajime had confided that Akuma’s comment that day had made him a little upset. Now, seeing the way Astra pointed that out made Hajime think his other older friend was right about Astra noticing things about him that other people didn’t.

“I was just a little bit surprised, that’s all,” Hajime admitted honestly with a small smile, shifting a bit. “At your words, I mean.”

“Did I speak mumbo-jumbo or something?” Astra asked, looking so genuinely confused that Hajime laughed before quickly covering his mouth even as muffled laughs escaped him anyway. 

“No,” Hajime said through laughs before finally managing to control it enough to return to the conversation they were having. “It’s just you said hanging out with me was fun and cool. I guess I just couldn’t seem to understand why. I mean, I know it’s really fun hanging around you, but you are really fun, Astra-san. You always have so many creative ideas about fun things to do and you can always bring a smile to my face. But me? I don’t really have anything fun about me, all I do is ramble about books and computers because I don’t really know the logistics of how to carry a normal conversation about anything else. I’m not really fun at all.” He didn’t mean to sound self-loathing, but he just couldn’t seem to see himself the way Astra and his other friends did. He had tried to think about all the things they said about him. Astra, Yuujin, Haru, even his brother always said things such as he was nice and smart. He tried to verbally repeat them to himself but struggled to manage even that.

“I don’t feel that, Hajime,” Astra said, sounding surprisingly serious. Well, as serious as Hajime had ever heard the other man sound.

“Astra-san,” Hajime began, but Astra did not even let him get a single word in after that.

“I totally don’t feel any of your words,” Astra said again. “You’re totally one of the smartest people I know, and that includes Rei, of course, but that’s just the summary of it all, isn’t it? Kinda like you can’t judge how awesome an Apptube video will be by the title, you being smart is just your title and not all there is to you. I do have fun hanging out with you. You don’t get annoyed at me spouting all sorts of random nonsense, even if you don’t get the mumbo-jumbo, I talk about half the time. You’re not my friend for the money but ‘cause you actually care.” He shrugged. “A lot of the friends I made as a kid were only in it for the money and while I had friends, Musimon was the first one who helped me be true to myself. And you? Well, I might have met you through Rei, but you’re my friend. Probably the closest to what I’d call a best friend, other than Musimon, of course.”

Hajime felt his eyes water a little at Astra’s words and for once allowed the tears to spill over, a lone tear falling down his cheek as his friend spoke those words. Astra couldn’t lie to save his life; he knew it and so did everyone else. “Astra-san…thank you. I always have so much fun with you. Watching your videos, spending time with you, it makes me happy. I wish I could have your confidence and believe all things you say about me. The things all of you say about me. Oniichan suffered so much to raise me and then to find me when I was kidnapped. I consider you my best friend too though. I didn’t at first but back then…during our sleepover, I woke up in the middle of the night. I woke you up too, and you stayed up the whole night with me and we just talked, watched videos and had loads of fun.”

Astra grinned at the memory. “I remember that. We were beat the next morning due to not sleeping all the night, but that was really fun.” His grin softened a little. “Making you feel better was a bonus, but I did have fun back then.”

Hajime finally managed to wipe the tears that had begun falling. What kind of person cried when they were happy? He really was a cry baby even though he wasn’t a little kid anymore. “I had fun too, Astra-san. It was nice being close to someone, being able to be friends with someone who wasn’t Oniichan. But we’re not kids anymore, Astra-san.”

Astra huffed. “I’ll have you know my inner child will always remain alive even when I’m 55 and have cool little grandkids or nieces and nephews.” 

Hajime couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image of Astra holding a cane and saying he totally felt it even when he was above 70. It distracted him and he forgot what he had been about to say. What he had been about to explain to his friend, but he didn’t need to because Astra spoke again then.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re not kids anymore, Hajime,” Astra said firmly. “Has any of our friendship changed since we were kids? Me, you, Eri, Haru and all of us…do you feel anything different?”

Hajime blinked. “Not for the most part, but Akuma-san said about you and Eri-san… I mean…” His cheeks flushed as that part had just slipped out. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, I mean it was just a joke and…” He trailed off. Why had he said that? He was normally a lot more careful than he had been just now and didn’t let things like this slip out of his mouth, but it had just come out before he could even censor himself for it. 

The laughter disappeared from Astra’s face, a more serious expression coming on it, and Hajime shifted even more. Was his friend angry because Hajime was butting into things that had nothing to do with him? It wasn’t his business whether Astra entered into a relationship with Eri or not. He opened his mouth to apologise for being so interfering when Astra spoke.

“You were bothered by that, weren’t you, Hajime?” Astra asked. “I noticed back then; you went really quiet when Akuma said that. But I don’t get it. Why?” He genuinely looked confused.

Hajime looked down at the ground, not being able to meet his friend’s eyes. “I-I’m sorry, Astra-san.” He knew that wasn’t exactly an answer to his question, but he couldn’t risk answering the actual question and damaging their friendship even further than he already had.

“Hajime,” Astra’s voice was gentle again, and softer than it had been, despite it still having a confused edge to it. “You didn’t answer my question. Why?”

“I can’t answer that,” Hajime admitted. “I’m sorry. I have no right to feel that way. It’s your life, Astra-san. I’m sorry.”

“Hajime, look at me,” Astra said placing his hands to Hajime’s shoulder. “Nothing you say will get rid of our friendship or anything but you gotta be honest with me, dude.” He didn’t sound as light-hearted as before, but he did sound a bit more like his normal self as he spoke these words. “You gotta tell me the truth and I promise I won’t go anywhere.”

Hajime looked into Astra’s eyes, passionate and warm like they always were, but he wasn’t sure what to say or where to even start. How could he admit that he was jealous? That he felt insecure because Eri was so confident and bright, a radiant light that could give so much more than a dark soulless sky like him could? 

“Eri-san is amazing, Astra-san,” Hajime said quietly. “She’s confident, she’s bright. It wasn’t fair of me to think, but I guess I felt if your relationship with her changed, I would be left behind. She can offer so much more, not just to you, but to everyone, to the whole world. You say I’m your best friend, Astra-san, and I guess I thought that would end. I don’t want it to end.” His voice choked up as he said this. “I don’t want you to go away too, like Dad did.” Yuujin may be easier to talk to openly about things, but Astra did something that genuinely inspired honesty in people and he couldn’t even attempt to hide his true feelings, when around someone like Astra. He didn’t know how this would end or if anything would get worse, so he shut his eyes, looking down and preparing for the worst. 

What he did not expect, however, was for protective arms to wrap around him and pull him in close. This startled him so much that it made his eyes shoot open and he stared up at Astra for a moment, seeing tears rolling down the other’s cheeks.

“Oh, Hajime,” Astra said, sniffling a little, as he wiped a tear out of his eye. “Eri’s awesome and I love her, but she’s like my older sister…I love to pull her leg, ‘cause it’s fun, but you got the rest of it totally wrong, dude. You’d never lose me. Your dad…well he was a jerk and I wouldn’t even try and stop Eri if she wanted to give him an explosive punch, cause’ he totally deserves it! Oh, where was I going with this again? Oh yeah, your dad was a mean person who left you, but not everyone is like him, you know? The world would totally crash if they all were. But anyway, my relationship with Eri won’t change, at least not in the way you think it will anyway.” He hugged Hajime a little tighter and the other leaned in closer, clearly wanting to stay in the hug and he was totally cool with that! Hajime was really cuddly, after all. “I mean, Yuujin and Eri could decide to start dating, and it’d be awkward teasing her so that might change things up and all, but not anything other than that.”

Hajime giggled at the thought of Yuujin and Eri dating. “Astra-san?”

“Yeah?” Astra replied. 

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Hajime informed him, although couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

Astra grinned. “Hey, you never know. Handsome young androids might be Eri’s style, who knows?”

Hajime laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that.”

Astra shrugged. “She can’t land a hit anyway. But anyway, stop distracting me and let me focus on what I was saying already.” He took Hajime’s hands into his own. “Hajime, no one, and I mean it, no one can replace you. Not Eri, not Haru and not even Musimon.”

Hajime stared for a moment at that last part, cheeks flushing red and he had to wonder what that meant because whilst his friend had called him a best friend alongside Musimon, his words now were completely different. His heart had begun to speed up slightly from these words – he had most definitely understood the message that Eri was like a sister to Astra, the other had spelt that out pretty clearly to him. But no one could replace him? What did that even mean?

“Astra-san?” Hajime asked, voice oddly shyer than usual and his face somehow turned redder. “What do you mean by saying that no one can replace me?”

Astra smiled, softer than his usual goofy grin he had when he was showing him the videos he would usually make. “I don’t really like beating around the bush to be honest, and I dunno, I’ve gone on dates and stuff with a few people, but you’re kind of different from them. Like I wanna say I have a crush on you, but that kinda doesn’t feel special enough, you know? I’ve had crushes before and while I totally felt them, it wasn’t like this. But I guess the way I feel it best is you’re just as special to me as Rei is to Haru. I feel that, for sure. I really do. I just don’t wanna define it as a crush.” He made a face. “You can have a crush on anyone you find pretty, but this is way deeper than that, especially since I’m usually not huge on Haru’s soulmate mumbo-jumbo completely.”

Hajime’s face went redder if possible, heart racing and palms beginning to sweat. His brain seemed to be moving in slow motion. It was like someone had pushed down a stop button in his brain because his mouth would not form the words that he would like to say his friend – was he even a friend anymore? – he didn’t know. He wasn’t as much of a free spirit as Astra, just saying whatever came to his mind. He needed time to think about things. He had felt insecure back then of that possibility of Astra and Eri becoming an item for a reason but now that Astra had admitted he only saw Eri as a sister, his brain seemed to be shutting down on him.

“D-did I hear you right?” was all Hajime managed to stammer out. “Y-you like me? You have a crush on me…or well, what you said?” He knew Astra didn’t want to call these feelings a crush because he couldn’t feel it. How was he supposed to respond to that? Right here, right now? How was he even supposed to reply? This was too hard.

Astra scratched his head. “Sorry, did I overwhelm you? I was kind of planning to talk to Rei first before asking you, but it kind of felt like the right time to say so…”

Hajime wrapped his own arms around Astra’s neck, hugging him tighter. “I like you too.” The words were barely above a whisper, but he felt he would completely short-circuit if he spoke any louder than he just had. Astra seemed to get the message, simply pulling him in closer and nodding. Even Astra could understand that sometimes words weren’t the best thing to say.


	15. Pieces Fall Into Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second update for you :) I hope everyone enjoys the double treat and I may try to give another one next weekend as well, only because its my holidays and I love you all.

**15\. Pieces Fall Into Place**

It had been two days since Astra had confessed to Hajime, and he had responded in consenting agreement, but he didn’t want to actually ask the younger boy out on a date until he talked to Rei about it first, and somehow, he felt that the time wasn’t right. No, I can’t make excuses. I have these feelings and Rei’s blessing is the most important, even more than Hajime’s. He knew Hajime consented after all, but he never wanted his special person – that was his placeholder name until he got Rei’s blessing – to have to choose between him and his precious family.

Family always comes first. That was a common teaching in the Asuka household that he had learnt from when he was a small child. No relationship came before family, not even whatever this was – he totally didn’t feel labelling relationships, it didn’t feel right to him.

The others were still getting here – even Haru wasn’t here yet and he lived the closest to the bookshop so maybe now would be a good time to have this conversation. He saw Rei standing there casually, waiting for the others, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall, and decided that now definitely would be the best time to talk to him. He walked over to his friend.

“Hey uh, Rei?” Astra said, shifting a bit nervously. “Can I talk to you?”

Rei stared at him for a moment before shrugging. “Yeah, sure.” He led the way to a separate room and Astra followed, pushing down the bundle of nerves that built in his stomach. Relax, calm down, dude, you’ve faced Leviathan before, how hard can talking to one of your friends be?

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Rei asked coolly, glancing at him.

Astra exhaled a bit, somehow managing to keep himself from chickening out. "Rei, I like Hajime-kun." Well, that was straight to the point, but he wasn't that good at beating around the bush. Besides, better it out than in, right? “In the same special way, you and Haru like each other. I wasn’t planning to say anything for a while longer, but it came up a few days ago. You’re very precious to me, and I wanted to be honest with you. I want to ask Hajime out to dinner, but before that, I wanted to tell you cause, you know, family is the most important. It is to me, at least. You’ve always been an important friend to me, Rei, a part of my family. So, if you tell me I can’t ask your little brother out to dinner, I won’t do that. I don’t feel it, making a relationship with Hajime that hurts or offends anyone in my family. I would never bypass you for my own feelings.”

Rei stared for a moment, before averting his gaze to the side, remaining quiet for a moment, and for a split second, Astra wasn’t sure what Rei was thinking, whether he was angry, surprised, or something much worse. He had never really been able to tell what the other was feeling because he wasn’t exactly the most open person. When it felt like Rei wouldn’t reply at all, he finally spoke.

“Hajime isn’t a child anymore,” Rei said quietly. “He has the right to go out with anyone he wants. I don’t have any issues with it if he doesn’t. Not at the moment anyway.”

Astra blinked, excitement bubbling in his heart at the fact that Rei had given his blessing and he smiled widely. “Thanks, Rei! That means a lot.” He was about to walk back to Hajime who was now talking with Haru, but Rei’s voice stopped him.

“Astra?” Rei said and Astra looked back to see the older man looking at him seriously.

“Yeah?” Astra said, blinking.

“Don’t ever hurt him, ok?” Rei said, and from his tone, it sounded like a request, but the glint in his red and gold eyes contained a promise of pain if Astra ever did hurt his little brother.

“I would never, Rei,” Astra said seriously. “I promise. You don’t need to worry when it comes to me. I just wanna make him smile, that’s all.”

Rei gave him one of his rare smiles at that before looking over as Haru came over, looking between them.

“Is everything alright?” Haru asked softly.

Astra smiled. “Yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t it be? The others are taking their time, though, I don’t feel that.”

“Eri-san said she’s not feeling well,” Haru replied. “So, she won’t be able to make it today. I hope she’s alright.”

Ai smiled softly, having come over to the group once Haru got here. “Eri-san is strong, she’ll be alright.”

“What about Yuujin?” Rei asked. “Is he going to come?”

Just as Rei asked that question, Yuujin came running into the bookstore.

“I’m so sorry for being late, my class ended up going over time,” Yuujin said, placing a hand on the back of his head and smiling sheepishly. “Did I miss much?” He looked around. “Where’s Eri-san?” 

“She’s not feeling all that great to come,” Astra explained. “Should we start without her or something?” He glanced at Haru as he asked this because he knew this was important, but maybe she could come for a little while or something if she just had a cold, but he didn’t know.

* * *

Haru was glad Astra had answered Yuujin’s question that Yuujin had asked because he wasn’t sure he could answer Yuujin without the other sensing his emotions. But when Astra turned to him, his face fell.

“I don’t think Eri-san is going to be able to make it,” Haru said softly. “She didn’t sound all that well and I think we should just update her with the information in case Dokamon wants to communicate with the Deep Web. Is that alright?” He knew his boyfriend and Yuujin both would detect the undercurrent of worry in his tone, but he hoped they wouldn’t ask what he didn’t know how to answer. 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Rei replied to him, glancing at him briefly before looking to the others. “Hajime and I have managed to modify the device and have been working on it for the last two nights. Hajime’s done what he’s can while I’m at work, and I’ve looked into it at nights.”

“Dude, have you gotten any sleep at all?” Astra asked, looking genuinely alarmed at Rei’s words.

Haru smiled a bit. “Rei-kun has afternoon shifts at the restaurant lately, so it’s not his usual lack of self-preservation.”

“Oniichan is a night owl anyway,” Hajime added. “I can’t always stay up super late to work on this, but I can get up early in the morning, so we’ve balanced things well anyway.”

“We haven’t tested it yet, though,” Rei said, clearly in work mode and not in the mood to talk about his health. Haru shook his head slightly, because it was so like the other to become like that, but he did realise this was important, not only to Rei, but to all of them.

“We should test it, then, shouldn’t we?” Haru said. The group gathered around together in the main headquarters they had set up where the machine was already running, Appliarising Gatchmon as Astra, Rei and Yuujin followed this with their own Appmon Buddies. 

Rei sat down on the main chair, setting up the small rectangular device and pressing a few buttons. “I’ve signalled the device towards Remedimon location,” Rei explained to the others. “So maybe Yuujin, you could give me your Applidrive so I can install the device onto it and see if it works out that way.”

Yuujin nodded, handing his Applidrive over and Haru watched his boyfriend’s forehead crinkle in concentration, hoping whatever he was doing would work, because while he was willing to let Gatchmon do what he needed for the Deep Web, just the thought of being without his Buddy for such an extended period of time made his heart ache. Not just for himself, but his friends, thoughts drifting to Eri once more. Whatever Eri-san is going through, at least she has Dokamon and her other Appmon to share that with – at least if she can’t share it with us. But if the Appmon have to go away… He couldn’t imagine how that would impact Eri especially because he knew she kept a lot more inside of her than people thought because of the way she portrayed herself.

“Alright, Yuujin,” Rei said, snapping Haru out of his worries. “Speak into the end of the Applidrive. Can you hear a slight static?”

“Yeah, I can,” Yuujin said, bringing the Applidrive closer to his mouth. “Remedimon, it’s me Yuujin. Can you hear me?”

“Yuujin!” Remedimon said, sounding surprised, but her voice came clearly through the device. “I can hear your voice, but I can’t find where it’s coming from exactly although it’s clear. How did you manage it?”

Yuujin smiled. “It happened because we have genius friends.” He extended the smile to Hajime as well, causing him to blush and Rei to avert his gaze at that.

“This is really cool, offu,” Offmon said happily. “Thank you for this, Rei.”

Rei cleared his throat, looking back up and focusing on the device again. “Well, the device works from here as I’ve connected it to the satellite of the Deep Web,” Rei said. “See this arrow right here? If we move it with this rotator, we can change the location to where we can communicate. Right now, we’ve set it to Remedimon’s home location, because we wanted to test this out. I think this can work. I just need to install this device into everyone’s Applidrive.”

Haru felt a surge of pride for his boyfriend, eyes lighting up as he smiled. “That’s wonderful, Rei-kun! You really are a genius to be able to figure all this out in just a few days.”

This time, Rei did flush and tried to cover it by coughing a few times before looking back and focusing on what was happening on the screen. Haru giggled a bit but decided to not embarrass him right now since they were focusing.

“This is awesome though!” Gatchmon said, having been observing the device and taking in everything so he had been quiet up until now. “It solves all our problems at once. You two are geniuses.”

“Of course, they are,” Hackmon said, a touch of pride in his voice and Haru could see the Appmon was smiling under his hood as Hajime joined his brother in turning a dark shade of red. 

“I totally feel that!” Astra said happily. “Do I?”

“Or do I not?” Musimon added, doing their usual thing.

“I totally do!” They both said together. 

“We should tell Eri and Doka as well,” Gatchmon said. “Especially since we’re all going to be going back and forth.”

Haru nodded at that. He wasn’t really sure if Dokamon should leave Eri right now, because his friend was clearly going through some things and their Buddies were someone, they could share pretty much anything with. He could vaguely hear Yuujin and Offmon talking to Remedimon about various things, but his thoughts drifted to the phone call that he and Eri had shared when he had called in to check on her.

_“I’m not feeling well, Haru,” Eri’s voice shook as she spoke those words. “I don’t think I can make it; can you cover for me?”_

_“Of course, I can cover for you, Eri-san,” Haru said softly. “Please get some rest, ok?”_

He didn’t like pushing people to talk about their personal things because sometimes, people had a reason for keeping things to themselves.

“Haru, are you okay?” Yuujin’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. “You’ve been really quiet today. Did something happen?”

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Haru said softly, giving his best friend a soft smile. He sighed a little. “I’m just worried.” He couldn’t really lie to Yuujin about that. His best friend knew him much too well for him to get away with that.

“About Eri?” Rei said quietly and that was when Haru realised that his boyfriend had been watching him closely this whole time.

Haru made sure Astra and Hajime weren’t listening in because he didn’t want to worry them. “I’m worried Eri-san is going through something, more than just work-related stress, I mean. I just…I wish I could do something more for her, that’s all.”

“I think you’re doing a lot for her already,” Yuujin said softly. “By thinking of her and worrying about her if she’s going through a difficult time."

“She knows she can count on you,” Rei said, clearly agreeing with Yuujin. “She knows she can come to you when she’s ready.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so here we are with a new story and a new beginning. I have worked very hard on this and I really hope it shows so do tell me how I did and I want to keep improving so feel free to pot-roast me if the story did not live up to your standard. I love all of you and thank you for all the support and I would like to dedicate this story to all of my friends who have helped me reach this far.  
NeoMiniTails  
Sunshine-hime  
groundramon  
YaoiFanGirl8228  
coolgamer (Crystal_leris, my lovely betareader)  
SinanK (without whom I would have never watched Appmon in its completion)  
Music Chick (hasn't seen Appmon yet but has been a huge supporter of me and my work)
> 
> Thank you, all of you and this story is for all of you <3 I love you all.


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